On an architectural diagram, an AI network appears as clean lines connecting racks and switches. On the data center floor, those lines become thousands of fibers that must reach the correct GPU, work first time, and remain accessible when the system changes.
We need to enable low-latency networks so we can access data and manage the compute capabilities in a much faster, much larger environment. The expectation today is immediate, or close to it
Ken Hall, CommScope
AI has raised the stakes for that physical infrastructure. Users expect immediate answers, while operators need to bring expensive compute capacity online quickly. A dirty connector, incorrectly routed fiber, or delayed delivery can prevent GPUs from joining the cluster.
Operators therefore need infrastructure that can be deployed repeatedly at scale without becoming unmanageable, while retaining enough flexibility to support new hardware.
