This paper proposes and experimentally evaluates a
fully developed novel architecture with purpose built low latency
communication protocols for next generation disaggregated data
centers (DDCs). In order to accommodate for capacity and
latency needs of disaggregated IT elements (i.e. CPU, memory),
this architecture makes use of a low latency and high capacity
circuit switched optical network for interconnecting various endpoints, that are equipped with multi-channel Silicon photonic
based integrated transceivers. In a move to further decrease the
perceived latency between various disaggregated IT elements,
this paper proposes a) a novel network topology, which cuts
down the latency over the optical network by 34% while
enhancing system scalability and b) channel bonding over multicore fiber (MCF) switched links to reduce head to tail latency
and in turn increase sustained memory bandwidth for
disaggregated remote memory. Furthermore, to reduce power
consumption and enhance space efficiency, the integration of
novel multi core fiber (MCF) based transceivers, fibers and
optical switches are proposed and experimentally validated at the
physical layer for this topology. It is shown that the integration of
MCF based subsystems in this topology can bring about an
improvement in energy efficiency of the optical switching layer
which is above 60%. Finally, the performance of this proposed
architecture and topology is evaluated experimentally at the
application layer where the perceived memory throughput for
accessing remote and local resources is measured and compared
using electrical circuit and packet switching. The results also
highlight a multi fold increase in application perceived memory
throughput over the proposed DDC topology by utilization and
bonding of multiple optical channels to interconnect
disaggregated IT elements that can be carried over MCF links