NovoServe, a venture capital backed Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) hosting provider with company-owned data centers focused on delivering custom-engineered dedicated server and virtual server (VPS hosting) configurations to customers worldwide, announces a significant upgrade of its European network backbone from 40GE (Gigabit Ethernet) to 100GE. NovoServe has invested in high-end Arista Networks 7280QR routers as well as other network equipment to support its network upgrade.

NovoServe’s cross-border European network backbone with global reach spans several redundantly interconnected data centers in the Netherlands and Germany. The ring-based backbone has Points-of-Presence (PoPs) located in NovoServe’s company-owned data centers in the Netherlands (DCD Doetinchem and DCT Enschede), as well as in Amsterdam (NIKHEF), Enschede (Equinix), Hengelo (Previder), and Frankfurt, Germany (TelecityGroup). To align its European network capabilities with its growing customer base and increased bandwidth requirements from existing clients, NovoServe has made this significant investment in its cross-border network backbone.

The Arista Networks 7280QR routers being deployed in the NovoServe network backbone have a maximum total throughput of 2.16 Terabits/second (12x 100 Gb and 24x 40 Gb ports). NovoServe’s investment in these two high-end 100G Ethernet routers and accompanying network equipment comes at a time when demand for more bandwidth and 100GE routing and switching network capabilities in the data center environment is surging, as confirmed by research organizations IDC and Dell’Oro.

The last IDC Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and IDC Worldwide Quarterly Router Tracker show that 100GE Ethernet shipments continue to grow rapidly as adoption by hyperscale cloud providers and large enterprises accelerates. 100GbE shipments accounted for 13.6% of Ethernet switching revenue in 2018 compared to 8.5% in 2017. Global 100GE revenues broke the $1 billion barrier in 3Q18, reaching $1.1 billion to make up 14.8% of the market’s total revenue. Also Dell’Oro Group is predicting significant growth in 100 Gigabit Ethernet port demand. According to Dell’Oro Group’s 3Q 2018 Ethernet Switch – Data Center Report, 100 GE ports are expected to double in 2019.

Cloud Service Providers, Gaming and Ecommerce Companies

“The requirement for more high-speed network ports as well as higher amounts of data being driven from the edges of our European network are driving today’s upgrade of the NovoServe backbone,” said Paul Hoogsteder, Interconnection Manager at NovoServe and responsible for NovoServe’s network backbone upgrade. “NovoServe’s growing customer base as well as increased network bandwidth requirements set by continued cloud adoption, burgeoning analytics workloads, and real-time streaming applications, have required us to take the next step in the ongoing development of NovoServe’s European network.”

“We see the high-bandwidth needs in the data center space especially from Cloud Service Providers, SaaS providers, (cloud) gaming companies as well as quite some ecommerce providers who require the bandwidth and speed,” added Mr. Hoogsteder. “100 Gigabit Ethernet delivers just that. Next to the much higher bandwidth connections and fast data transfer rates, the new routers are supporting next generation network protocols while we expect that the significantly enhanced energy-efficiency of 400W and the routers’ small 1U form factor will save us significant money in the data center environment.”

400GE Network Speeds

“To satisfy increasing high-bandwidth demands, we’re already looking ahead to 2020 and beyond,” said Herke Plantenga, CEO and co-founder of NovoServe. “Last year, Arista Networks and other vendors including Juniper and Cisco have announced new network routing product lines that support 400 Gigabit Ethernet. Cloud Service Providers will probably be the main customers for 400GE as they transition from 100GE in an effort to satisfy increasing high-bandwidth demands, although ecommerce and gaming companies might also be the kind of customers interested in further improving throughput for their applications.”

“At the same time, Arista Networks is predicting that 400 Gigabit Ethernet volumes will still be relatively low in 2019,” added Mr. Plantenga. “I’m personally excited about the new network capabilities that 400GE will bring. Dell’Oro Market Research has predicted that the use of 400GE in the data center environment will already start growing dramatically beginning in 2020. I’m taking a more pragmatic view on how quickly 400GE network capabilities will be adopted though. 100GE rollouts are just taking over 10GE and there are still a lot of customers around the world running 10G or peering at 10G. With the 100GE backbone upgrade NovoServe is now ahead of the market again on an international level. Probably demand for 400GE will start to emerge somewhere towards 2021. We’ll keep a keen eye on it anyway and take steps accordingly.”