Feb 08, 2025 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
Social media firm Meta is attempting to redesign fiber signal amplification sites, just like subsea cable systems have repeaters every ~100km to amplify signals being sent between locations, in-line amplifier (ILA) sites amplify signals sent along terrestrial fiber.
“Buildings were constructed in a central location with [the] inside plant fitted into the shell before shipment to the site (via specialized motor carrier) and placed with a heavy-load crane,” Meta said. “However, unlike the remarkable (and ongoing) advancements in fiber and optronics (e.g., CWDM to DWDM to Coherent DWDM), ILA sites themselves have received little attention.”
Meta is now looking to redesign ILAs to meet its new requirements: the building and inside plant must be deployed in three to four days; reducing the need for heavy equipment such as heavy-lift cranes; reducing the amount of concrete required; and reducing PUE to below 1.5 – described as “nowhere near” Meta’s average 1.09 data center PUE, but an “achievable and significant improvement.”
“Working with global engineering consultancy AECOM, we’ve organized the problem and our engineering efforts into several categories: different building systems and foundations; a new inside plant installation method; alternative ballistics protection; introducing more efficient cooling; and modernizing backup power systems,” the company noted.