In recent years, investments by cloud companies in mega data centers and associated network infrastructure has created a very active and dynamic segment in the optical components and modules market. Optical interconnect technologies at high speed play a critical role for the growth of mega data centers, which flood the networks with unprecedented amount of data traffic.

Datacenter Connectivity Technologies: Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive and in-depth look at the development of various optical connectivity technologies which are making an impact on the building of data centers. The technologies span from short range connectivity, as low as 100 meters with multi-mode fiber (MMF) links inside data centers, to long distances of hundreds of kilometers with single-mode fiber (SMF) links between data centers.

This book is the first of its kind to address various advanced technologies connecting data centers. It represents a collection of achievements and the latest developments from well-known industry experts and academic researchers active in this field.

Technical topics covered in this book include:

• Mega data center requirements
• High volume VCSELs
• Directly modulated lasers
• Electro-absorption modulated lasers
• Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)
• Discrete Multi-Tone modulation (DMT)
• Optical Duobinary Transmission
• Optical fibers and connectors
• Mach-zenhder modulators
• Silicon photonics
• Optical waveguide devices and packaging
• Testing and measurements
• Advanced modulation formats
• Optical coherent networks
• High-speed IC design & packaging

Review in Optical Connections Magazine issue 14, Q3 2018

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Review in Optical Society (OSA)

A comprehensive and well-documented work, this book is one of a small number that cover connectivity issues for modern data centers. Most of the figures and charts are printed in color and there are hundreds of references and multiple quick lookup lists for figures, tables and an index of terms. Despite the title implying fairly high-level coverage, the book includes chapters with a wide range of topics, from the device physics and device details (lasers and modulators), all the way to network architecture and several modulation formats.

An excellent reference for researchers and graduate students, the book might not be a good choice as a textbook, due to its comprehensive nature, which is difficult to cover within a single semester, and due to the lack of application problems. Two small concerns are that many of the references are from the 1990s -although many others extend all the way to the mid-2010s-and that a small number of the figures include text and details in a small font size that are difficult to see.

Review by Bogdan Hoanca, a professor of management information systems at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA.

The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.

Data center networks, optical interconnect, transceiver modules, optoelectronics, integrated circuits

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