Inside Interop 2011 Hot Stage
Three months of planning the Interop network. Two weeks staging the equipment and preparing the network. Dozens of people from as many vendors all focused on putting together a network that will go live for six days. Glenn Evans, Interop network project lead and benevolent dictator, works with the vendors and volunteers to design, build, troubleshoot, and manage the InteropNet. <br><br>
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Interop's Hot Stage is a grueling two-week exercise where best practice meets rapid deployment in setting up and optimizing the InteropNet equipment before it's disassembled and shipped out to the show site in Las Vegas. For two weeks, the elite of IT will gather at a stuffy warehouse to design, build, and test the largest temporary network in the world with the latest and greatest IT gear from around the industry. The event is always a major undertaking, but Geoff Horne and Val Bojarski, the folks running Hot Stage, make it look easy. Of course, they have enormous help from the Interop NOC team and staff from InteropNet sponsors.
NOC engineers are preparing the equipment for Interop. In the foreground, engineers from Cisco and Gigamon are discussing wireless monitoring options while, further back, engineers from HP are laying out their portion of the network.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
The cabinet for the conference rooms, show floor, and NOC are put together in the rack staging area. Rails, cable channels, and other hardware needed to support the equipment are installed.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
An HP12508 on a server lift ready to be moved to its location. Server lifts work well in confined spaces and are designed to fit standard rack sizes. After hours, the NOC team holds time trials around the staging area. (No, not really.)
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
Multi-fiber pull off (MPO) cassettes like these are used to fan out a six-pair fiber bundle into 6 SC connectors. The cream colored connectors are single mode, the blue ones are multi-mode.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
An engineer is checking equipment labels to the NOC documentation, ensuring everything is where it belongs. For a job as complex this, checking twice for accuracy will save time later.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
Engineers constantly check connectivity using test devices to ensure that everything works at each step. That way, they can correct errors quickly.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
The core racks are in the process of being cabled up. The orange cables are multi-mode fiber, the blue are optimized multi-mode fiber, and the yellow are single mode fiber. Each cable is barcoded and tracked.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
The core rack on the left, the two Cisco distribution racks in the middle, and the HP distribution racks are almost done. The spool of green wire on top is a fiber bundle carrying six pair of single-mode and optimized multi-mode cable, as well as 12 pair of multi-mode cable.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
Kits are used to clean the fiber ends before they are inserted into the equipment. Cleaning the fiber ends ensures a good connection and fewer errors.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
Engineers are already at the Mandalay Bay convention center inspecting fiber cables with a specialized microscope. Damaged or dirty ends are replaced or cleaned.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
The equipment racks are complete and ready for wrapping and shipping. The racks are shipped cabled up. Fiber and copper bundles interconnect the racks at the show. All they need to do is connect the umbilicals. Loose wires are always an issue, however.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
The equipment racks are complete and ready for wrapping and shipping. The racks are shipped cabled up. Fiber and copper bundles interconnect the racks at the show. All they need to do is connect the umbilicals. Loose wires are always an issue, however.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
Interop's Hot Stage is a grueling two-week exercise where best practice meets rapid deployment in setting up and optimizing the InteropNet equipment before it's disassembled and shipped out to the show site in Las Vegas. For two weeks, the elite of IT will gather at a stuffy warehouse to design, build, and test the largest temporary network in the world with the latest and greatest IT gear from around the industry. The event is always a major undertaking, but Geoff Horne and Val Bojarski, the folks running Hot Stage, make it look easy. Of course, they have enormous help from the Interop NOC team and staff from InteropNet sponsors.
NOC engineers are preparing the equipment for Interop. In the foreground, engineers from Cisco and Gigamon are discussing wireless monitoring options while, further back, engineers from HP are laying out their portion of the network.
For the latest news and commentary from the show, go to the Interop Special Report.
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