Huawei debuts the CloudEngine 12800 (CE12800) at CeBIT 2014-- a high-performance core switch series aimed at cloud computing and big data applications offering switching capacity of up to 64Tbit/s.

The switches enable bandwidth of 4Tbit/s per slot and support high-density line-speed ports including 192x100GE, 384x40GE or 1536x10GE. The company says the switches use industry-leading clos-based architecture  with a front-to-rear ventilation channel design providing increased reliability.

Also included are virtualisation capabilities, multiple data centre features and energy-saving technologies.

Intel and partners ready production of 800Gbps optical network cable for supercomputer and data centre use, based on technology developed by the Intel Silicon Photonics laboratory.

The cables push 25Gbps of data across each fibre, and were first seen last year with speeds reaching 100Gbps. The connectors are called "MXC," an Intel-Corning development holding up to 64 fibres (32 up, 32 down) to allow the aforementioned 800Gbps connection speeds-- even if Intel prefers to speak of a "1.6Tbps" aggregate.

Enabling such connection speeds is silicon photonics, a transmission technology converting electrical signals into optical and vice versa.

By Elizabeth Cruz, IHS Senior Analyst, Data Centers, Cloud & IT Infrastructure

In a world where Google, Amazon, and Facebook are designing their own servers and buying direct from Asian manufacturers, suppliers of all data center equipment are rightfully a little worried about their place in the future supply chain.

If you look at the main sectors of the data center infrastructure market - cooling, UPS, rack power distribution, and IT cabinets-you see that everything except racks seems to have a major disruptive trend or technology that could really threaten market growth. In contrast, racks continue to carry-on with no major road blocks on the horizon.

Traditional cooling companies are worried about free, or compressor-less, cooling technologies taking over. UPS companies are apprehensive about decreasing redundancy and the adoption of direct current in the data center. Rack PDU companies are watchful of both server and branch circuit level power metering.

The EMEA server market "continues to suffer" during Q4 2013 according to Gartner, with revenues dropping by -6.4% Y-o-Y to $3.6 billion as shipments total 613000 units with a -2.5% Y-o-Y decline.

Further decline is seen in overall 2013 results-- shipments are down by -5.6% to 2.3 million units while revenues drop by -6.3% to $12.4bn.

"The EMEA server market continued to suffer as it recorded its 10th consecutive quarterly revenue decline," the analyst says. "Economic weakness continued to have a profound effect on the EMEA server market. Total revenue in 2013 was only around two-thirds of that seen in 2007, before the downturn set in."

All regions see Q4 2013 revenue declines, with the worst in E. Europe at -14.1% Y-o-Y. W. European revenues drop by -4.9% Y-o-Y, while MEA sees a -6.8% decline.