Features

A resilient network can be mission impossible, if not properly planned. AQR Capital Management in Greenwich, Conn., designed a network that included a redundant data center and storage area network (SAN) with mirroring capabilities, which warranted a high-speed, high-bandwidth, physical infrastructure.

“Our data is mission critical, so we had to assure that there is not a single point of failure in our network,” states Jerry Levine, vice president and head of IT for AQR. With a growth rate from $5 billion to $25 billion in assets under management in three years, the result is an enormous amount of data–more than eight terabytes and growing.

AQR Capital Management is an investment-management firm with a span of products that include aggressive high-volatility market hedge funds to low-volatility benchmark-driven traditional funds. Its network handles an array of data and voice applications–from timely investment transactions to internal voice over IP (VoIP).

“Because AQR’s investment strategies are based on intricate models, a failsafe data storage and retrieval system set the guidelines when we designed our SAN,” Levine says. AQR decided to invest in a SAN within its data center using a redundant fabric design that connects directly to network-attached storage devices.

The crux of this design was dependent on fiber and copper cabling systems from Ortronics/Legrand and Berk-Tek, a Nexans company, which became the corporate standard for the LAN, SAN and disaster-recovery center.

“Once a structured cabling system is installed, you expect it to last for years,” offers Levine. “Knowing that speed and bandwidth are dependent upon the cabling media, we knew we had to install a 10-gigabit fiber backbone to grow with the equipment we install today, as well as upgrades we make in the future.

We could have used 2-gigabit fiber, but we knew that we would need to have 10-gigabit uplinks to the switches to allow for growth.”

NetClear MM10, which utilizes the 50-micron, 10-Gbps fiber-optic cable and connectivity, was selected for the data center and SAN backbone. NetClear GT3, which is an enhanced Category 6 solution, was selected as the horizontal cabling system for the corporate LAN.

“We wanted to make the most out of our data center and did not want to proliferate the direct-attached storage arrays that were traditionally used,” Levine explains. “We decided to install a SAN using a Fibre Channel network, which would allow high-speed, redundant connections to the servers and tape drives, integrating applications and services for our corporate network.”

Typically, corporate data has been kept on direct-attached storage arrays, which do not scale well with a data-intensive firm. Centralizing the data storage with a SAN consolidates the space, management, power, heat generation and cabling, and allows the dynamic allocation of disk space to server volumes. In addition, advanced features enable effective data-mirroring capabilities both locally and to remote recovery data centers.

AQR installed redundant SAN storage processors and fiber switches that enable servers to attach directly to the SAN to access disk space through the fiber-optic cabling. This facilitates the connection of many servers to the SAN versus a direct-attached disk array-based model that only supports a single server.

At the firm’s headquarters, the data center is laid out to maximize space. Installed cabinets and racks hold the equipment, and per the TIA-942 industry standards, these are lined up in “hot and cold” aisles and designated as “main distribution areas” and “horizontal distribution areas.” There are a total of three rows and four aisles with the fronts of the cabinets, which house servers, SAN switches, fiber and copper to make up the main distribution area.

These cabinets face each other so that the cold air is circulated through the front. Ten Ortronics Mighty Mo 6 racks house the network gear, such as the LAN switches, routers, firewalls and all the patch panels, and make up the horizontal distribution areas for service out to the users. The backs of these racks face the backs of the cabinets to allow the hot air to be distributed out and up into the ceiling, which is a return plenum system.

To accommodate data growth, as well as a failsafe disaster-recovery plant, AQR uses a dual redundant fiber fabric design. The NetClear MM10 system includes the fiber-optic cable, patch cords and termination products. It connects the networking switches (LAN, SAN, VoIP, and trading services) and server infrastructure.

Berk-Tek’s 24-strand Armor-Tek interlock armored fiber-optic cable, utilizing the high-bandwidth GIGAlite-10, 50-micron fiber-optic cable, was used from the OC-3 demarcation point to the data center. In addition, it was used in AQR’s offsite data center and as part of the backbone between the data closets. The Armor-Tek eliminates conduit between facilities and floors. The fiber is then terminated into the Ortronics OptiMo 615 Series fiber enclosures located in the data centers and telecom rooms on other floors.

Within the data center, Berk-Tek’s preterminated GIGAlite-10 fiber-optic patch cables with LC connectors connect to the SAN switches, servers and to the SAN storage processors. Preterminated fiber is most often specified in data centers and backbones where the lengths have been predetermined.

“One of the main advantages for specifying preterminated fiber-optic cables is that through controlled factory termination we are assured superior cable performance,” explains Bill Santarsiero, AQR’s network architect. In addition, preterminated fiber saves on installation time–up to as much as 30% faster to install–versus having to splice, attach the connector and test.

For interconnection between the servers in the data center, and to provide data and voice applications, as well as network storage accessibility to the end-users, NetClear GT3 was selected for the horizontal distribution areas. Every server cabinet in the data center contains 48-port and 24-port Ortronics Clarity 6 patch panels.

The 24-port panel is used for keyboard, video and mouse switches, allowing data center personnel to connect to any server in the racks. The 48-port patch panels are used for network connections between cabinets and out to the end-user. Inter-cabinet connections utilize Berk-Tek’s LANmark-2000 enhanced Category 6 cable, which runs above the cabinets on a ladder rack.

“Speed and bandwidth are critical to delivering optimal performance to our trading services platform,” states Santarsiero. “Therefore, for our more than 100 employees, we provided six drops of Berk-Tek’s LANmark-2000 enhanced Category 6 cables to allow one gigabit for each data and voice connection to every user. Each run of the enhanced Category 6 cable is home run back to the data center with no cross-connect, eliminating the need for intermediary closet connections.

The horizontal cable was terminated into the Ortronics Clarity 6 patch panels through Clarity 6 patch cords, with the patented Paralign two-plug design. “A lot of attention was given to the selection of the patch cords, both in brand and in color coding,” notes Santarsiero. “We had tried no-name patch cords, but the pins were not making proper contacts and therefore caused poor computer operations. That was truly a test in the proper mating of components when selecting and installing a warranted system.”

All of the patch cords between the network equipment and patch panels are color-coded. “We selected six different custom-colored cable jackets to match the different services within the horizontal distribution area in the data center, making it easier to identify and also help in future moves, adds and changes,” states Santarsiero.

Green patch cords are designated for network connections (such as a firewall to a switch or interconnection between switches). Yellow patch cords are for the trading services WAN. Red patch cords connect servers, which are housed in the server cabinets, to the patch panels then to the core switches. Orange and blue patch cords are for remote management. Orange connects to the servers’ proprietary remote-management interface and blue connects the centralized KVM switches.

“In the past, servers were hardwired directly to a monitor station. Now all of our technicians can work at their desks and can be patched into the management network using these patch cords through KVM switches,” explains Santarsiero. Black patch cords are used for IP-based phones and gray cables are for the office workstations. Finally, white patch cords are used for printers.

To assure that AQR was stocked with the appropriate colored patch cords for all moves, adds and changes, staff keeps a well-stocked supply of the Clarity 6 patch cords in different lengths. In addition, AQR used a unique color-coding for the ports at all the workstation outlets and at matching ports in the patch panels.

“We used little outside consulting in planning our data center and our corporate network,” states Levine. “The design and implementation were performed by the same people who would be supporting it. Our in-house team knows the infrastructure inside and out, eliminating the need for outside support services.”

AQR is now utilizing the same infrastructure for expansion on other floors within the headquarters, as well as its offsite data center.

“Our technology infrastructure was designed with best practices in mind, yielding a high level of redundancy and resiliency,” he concludes. “The performance and stability of our network is something the firm depends on. With capacity to scale the complicated technology infrastructure, it’s the reliability of the physical infrastructure that gives us peace of mind to assure business continuity and growth."

Growth expected

U.S. organizations are spending 5.1% more on IT this year compared to last, report respondents from GCR Custom Research’s IT Watch survey and forecast. Respondents forecast that spending will further increase next year by 6.9%.

“Three key priorities are driving increased investment in IT this year,” says Brian Smith, product manager of IT Watch, “security, financial controls, and earmarks for upgrading to new versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Above all other issues, respondents tell us that the top priority this year is improving security of IT systems.

The push toward instituting improved financial controls of IT systems is the second key driver of increased spending, according to IT Watch respondents. Compliance demands by such legislation as Sarbanes-Oxley and privacy mandates of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act continue to drive new investments in IT.

Finally, respondents report that upgrading software and hardware is a top spending priority this year. The slated release of Microsoft Office 2007 and the Windows Vista operating system are driving software budgets upward. Upgrading legacy hardware systems and increased spending on server consolidation are driving hardware budgets upward.

“Judging by our survey results and respondent comments, we see larger budgets being earmarked for IT contractors, as well as sizeable increases for software next year,” says Scott Evans, a vice president at GCR Custom Research. “We also see double-digit growth forecasted for mobile devices such as PDAs, smartphones, cell phones and tablet PCs. In addition, the financial services industry continues to lead the way as a big spender on IT, with expected growth to reach 12% this year and similar levels next year.”

Hardware budgets are down an estimated 1% from last year, according to the survey. This year, the largest declines in hardware spending have occurred among manufacturing, retail, communications/high-tech manufacturing and energy.

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