Data Center Infrastructure | Electrical Characterization & Signal Testing

The rising demand for greater data center capacity

Rising demand for capacity and scale

16-1

Data centers of the future must accommodate surging demand for data storage and processing capacities. With the rise of 5G technology, IoT networks, and AI, modern data centers grapple with greater scale demands while still keeping space and cost expenditure low. For business incumbents with existing legacy infrastructure, backwards-compatible data center components can help meet demand while eliminating the need to build new centers from scratch.

Flexibility to weather future uncertainty

15-2

Newer enterprises will also have to plan carefully to hedge data center expenditure against economic fluctuations so that both their business models and next-gen data centers remain viable in the long run. Our established partnerships, which includes more than 10 years of working with Intel, gives our customers reliable access to the latest standards in electrical validation, functional validation, cable compliance, and other essential components in data center testing.

Revised data center validation standards

With new demands come new standards. But navigating new landscapes is still possible with our tech-powered automated test solutions and engineering experts. Not only will they provide you with actionable insights on how to build the optimal data center, but also equip manufacturers with knowledge on compiling and preparing the necessary documents required for clearance and shipment to target markets worldwide via comprehensive Market Access Services.

image_2023_05_08T08_57_22_255Z

Tap into our rich network of data center test experts

Access multi-vendor data center solutions backed by exprts in electrical characterization and signal integrity at a GRL test lab near you. With versatile software designed for interoperability with test equipment from Anritsu, Keysight, Textronix, and Teledyne LeCroy, our team is proud to cater quality, round-the-clock support for the following data center troubleshooting services:

Motherboards
Network to network
SSD
Storage
PCIe
PC server system boards
Product for Ethernet
Electrical compliance automotives: Interconnecting interfaces between ICs and devices to host

Data centers are intricate systems that require coordination between many stakeholders. That’s why GRL works closely with our customers, IP providers, as well as Original Equipment Manufacturers of PCs and servers to build data centers that not only fit existing business needs, but ones that are optimized for agility and flexibility in the future. Kickstart your data center testing journey by contacting us and receiving a complimentary consultation.

An overview of data center specifications

What is High Performance computing (HPC) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)?

High Performance Computing (HPC) allows data center processing systems to perform high speed calculations. While the average computer performs 1 billion calculations per second for each worth of GHz processing power, HPC powered supercomputers, can perform several quadrillion calculations per second! HPC's speed makes a wider range of next-gen technology applications such as IoT, AI, and 5G networks viable by allowing data processing to run like clockwork, no matter the volume of data.

This enables data centers and communication infrastructures to keep up with data processing demand without increased space or resources. High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) complements HPC processing by performing the role of data storage, safekeeping data processed and generated by supercomputers and making them accessible in real-time.

How do chiplets form the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe)?

Chiplets, as the name suggests, are tinier than your average computer chip. They were first designed in response to the industrial shift towards smaller process nodes. As tiny integrated circuits designed for specific functions, chiplets act as building blocks for Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe). In turn, UCIe refers to the collective network of connections between chiplets that form an open ecosystem at the package level.

Chiplet-based designs act as an intermediary to help data centers transition away from older nodes (16-28nm) to lower nanometer designs while still tapping into them for certain functions in legacy systems. The nature of UCIe allows for ecosystems to be customized according to various business needs, creating networks that combine functions from various notes, and even opportunities for cost reductions if specialized chips are produced at scale.

What is the RISC-V (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) ecosystem?

The RISC in RISC-V stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer, a set of specification instructions that are used to build hardware and software that form the wider RISC-V ecosystem. The RISC-V in turn is an open specification and platform that consists of components that spread across low-level firmware, boot loaders, system kernels, applications, as well as design and verification tools.

As an open specification built on unique design principles, RISC-V forms the foundation of many commercially available software and hardware, creating a common software toolchain where efficient pipelines of optimized operations can be built. As data centers continue to grow, RISC-V optimization will become increasingly crucial in meeting ever-increasing consumption levels while drawing greater outputs sustainably through higher performance per watt.

Automated test solutions for data center infrastructure planning

Data center components such as PCIe and USB typically come with lengthy specifications at the chip and server level. Instead of going through specification reports that are thousands of pages long, why not use GRL’s intuitive software that supercharges R&D teams and manufacturers by enabling multiple tests across various EV automated solutions using the Anritsu BERT and the Keysight, Tektronix and Teledyne LeCroy oscilloscopes — while freeing up your lab space, reducing test time, and eliminating the need for tedious manual validation.

Our solutions work with various test equipment that have undergone stringent selection criteria, including:

Bit Error Ratio Tester (BERT)

Probably the most critical instrument when it comes to stressed receiver calibration, only BERT that exhibit desirable traits of fast rise time and low intrinsic noise qualify.

Electrical-to-Optical (E/O) converters

E/O converters must have automatic bias control, an input linear amplifier, and a Mach-Zehnder modulator to convert electrical signals generated from BERT into optical signals that can be applied to receivers-under-test.

Oscilloscopes

Only high-bandwidth sampling or real-time oscilloscopes are selected after taking into account factors such as combined noise floor of the scope and optical front-end as well as intrinsic scope and optical front-end noise.

Browse our data center solutions!

Browse features of the PCI Express® PLL Test Automation Solution and GRL PCI Express® Transmitter Test Automation Solution, both complete with scopes from Tektronix and Keysight.

Also available are the SAS-4, SAS-3, and USB4® automation software for Anritsu MP1900A BERT receiver test and Tektronix receiver calibration.

Data center testing services

Electrical characterization and signaling services

Signal and Power Integrity (SI and PI)

Reliable electrical and signaling pathways are the key to uninterrupted service and smooth system maintenance. As a close partner to numerous electrical testing solution manufacturers across Asia, Europe, and America, GRL’s experts are more than equipped to guide you through the data center analysis procedure to ensure that every component fits your business needs like a puzzle piece.

Read more about our Signal and Power Integrity Analysis services.
HDMI 2.0 and 1.4b protocol and physical layer testing

Manufacturers may also purchase software for oscilloscope-based HDMI 2.0 protocol analysis and debugging to swiftly troubleshoot common signal integrity issues arising during the physical layer test process for both HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4b.

Customers can obtain detailed insight into protocol transactions, physical layer waveforms, and other detailed insights from reports generated from the GRL HDMI® 2.0 and 1.4b Protocol Decode and Compliance Test Software (GRL-HDMI-DEC). As the only tool that allows developers to decode HDMI 2.0 traffic on real-time scopes, the GRL-HDMI-DEC provides superior assurance for all HDMI-related compliance test specifications.

Read about the full features on the GRL-HDMI-DEC.
DDR compliance testing

DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and is currently the prevailing standard for memory transmission. As the name suggests, multiplies the rate of data transfer by two times with each pulse. Various DDR standards, from DDR to DDR5, have been rolled out by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association as part of efforts to standardize the production and testing of products relating to memory and transmission.

Through a partnership with leading memory debug and validation tool vendor FuturePlus, GRL has expanded our range of DDR and LPDDR memory test services to cover essential data center components such as servers and embedded computer systems. Manufacturers and organizations will be able to conduct tests for memory channel validation, embedded memory (aka memory downing), row hammer event, as well as DIMM and SO-DIMM failure analysis.

Through these new services, customers will be able to accurately analyze high performance applications for margin testing, command bus utilization, power management, data bus utilization, and bank group analysis.

Read more about DDR compliance testing services performed at our labs.

Reliable electrical and signaling pathways are the key to uninterrupted service and smooth system maintenance. As a close partner to numerous electrical testing solution manufacturers across Asia, Europe, and America, GRL’s experts are more than equipped to guide you through the data center analysis procedure to ensure that every component fits your business needs like a puzzle piece.

Read more about our Signal and Power Integrity Analysis services.

Manufacturers may also purchase software for oscilloscope-based HDMI 2.0 protocol analysis and debugging to swiftly troubleshoot common signal integrity issues arising during the physical layer test process for both HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4b.

Customers can obtain detailed insight into protocol transactions, physical layer waveforms, and other detailed insights from reports generated from the GRL HDMI® 2.0 and 1.4b Protocol Decode and Compliance Test Software (GRL-HDMI-DEC). As the only tool that allows developers to decode HDMI 2.0 traffic on real-time scopes, the GRL-HDMI-DEC provides superior assurance for all HDMI-related compliance test specifications.

Read about the full features on the GRL-HDMI-DEC.

DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and is currently the prevailing standard for memory transmission. As the name suggests, multiplies the rate of data transfer by two times with each pulse. Various DDR standards, from DDR to DDR5, have been rolled out by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association as part of efforts to standardize the production and testing of products relating to memory and transmission.

Through a partnership with leading memory debug and validation tool vendor FuturePlus, GRL has expanded our range of DDR and LPDDR memory test services to cover essential data center components such as servers and embedded computer systems. Manufacturers and organizations will be able to conduct tests for memory channel validation, embedded memory (aka memory downing), row hammer event, as well as DIMM and SO-DIMM failure analysis.

Through these new services, customers will be able to accurately analyze high performance applications for margin testing, command bus utilization, power management, data bus utilization, and bank group analysis.

Read more about DDR compliance testing services performed at our labs.

Storage services for data centers

PCIe compliance testing

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, more commonly known as PCI Express®, is also a bus specification that enables manufacturers to keep up with rising demand for data transmission speed. While both DDR and PCI Express® contribute towards transmission speed in memory and storage devices, the main difference in PCIe lies in how it follows prevailing programming and signaling standards laid out by the Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (or PCI-SIG).

Established in 1992, PCI-SIG is a non-profit organization consisting of industrial experts from over 700 industries that deploy PCI technology. As the organization responsible for developing and deploying PCIe standards worldwide, PCI-SIG has strict guidelines for manufacturers to follow. Through GRL’s track record of supporting PCI-SIG’s committees, workshops, and adopters, we have the experience and expertise to help you comply with PCIe 6.0, 5.0, 4.0, earlier Base (ASIC), and CEM (System) specification pre-compliance tests.

Read all about PCIe compliance testing services at our labs.
SAS compliance testing

Since inception in 2004, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) has helped data centers address problems in high performance transaction-oriented storage applications. Leading SAS storage technology of today provides greater performance and scalability compared to traditional SCSI technology, with built-in features for minimizing protocol errors as well as bit-errors at the physical layer.

As with any storage technology, SAS can only help data centers operate more efficiently if it allows data to be stored, accessed, and transferred reliably. Manufacturers can easily achieve that through GRL labs, which offers a comprehensive range of SAS services for devices, hosts, expanders, backplanes, and cables.

Access our SAS test services here.
HDMI 2.0 and 1.4b protocol and physical layer testing

Manufacturers may also purchase software for oscilloscope-based HDMI 2.0 protocol analysis and debugging to swiftly troubleshoot common signal integrity issues arising during the physical layer test process for both HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4b.

Customers can obtain detailed insight into protocol transactions, physical layer waveforms, and other detailed insights from reports generated from the GRL HDMI® 2.0 and 1.4b Protocol Decode and Compliance Test Software (GRL-HDMI-DEC). As the only tool that allows developers to decode HDMI 2.0 traffic on real-time scopes, the GRL-HDMI-DEC provides superior assurance for all HDMI-related compliance test specifications.

Read about the full features on the GRL-HDMI-DEC.

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, more commonly known as PCI Express®, is also a bus specification that enables manufacturers to keep up with rising demand for data transmission speed. While both DDR and PCI Express® contribute towards transmission speed in memory and storage devices, the main difference in PCIe lies in how it follows prevailing programming and signaling standards laid out by the Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (or PCI-SIG).

Established in 1992, PCI-SIG is a non-profit organization consisting of industrial experts from over 700 industries that deploy PCI technology. As the organization responsible for developing and deploying PCIe standards worldwide, PCI-SIG has strict guidelines for manufacturers to follow. Through GRL’s track record of supporting PCI-SIG’s committees, workshops, and adopters, we have the experience and expertise to help you comply with PCIe 6.0, 5.0, 4.0, earlier Base (ASIC), and CEM (System) specification pre-compliance tests.

Read all about PCIe compliance testing services at our labs.

Since inception in 2004, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) has helped data centers address problems in high performance transaction-oriented storage applications. Leading SAS storage technology of today provides greater performance and scalability compared to traditional SCSI technology, with built-in features for minimizing protocol errors as well as bit-errors at the physical layer.

As with any storage technology, SAS can only help data centers operate more efficiently if it allows data to be stored, accessed, and transferred reliably. Manufacturers can easily achieve that through GRL labs, which offers a comprehensive range of SAS services for devices, hosts, expanders, backplanes, and cables.

Access our SAS test services here.

Read about the full features on the GRL-HDMI-DEC.

Network services

Matter standard conformance testing for wireless IoT

Matter standards are set up by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) to promote interoperability between IoT devices linked to wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, and Ethernet. As a standard that raises the bar for cybersecurity, Matter compliance is expected to become an increasingly crucial aspect of data privacy and safety moving forward.

Read all about our wireless IoT testing services here.
Ethernet compliance testing

Ethernet technology is not just limited to homes and work devices, but data centers that provide the networks and feed data to said devices. The number of nodes in the average Ethernet network is expected to continue growing alongside social media growth, adoption of mobile phones, augmented reality, and IoT devices, as well as enterprises outsourcing data storage from internal servers to the cloud.

That's why Ethernet specification has expanded from 10G to 400G to keep up with rapidly growing demand for capacity in modern data centers. However, growing data centers indefinitely is not a sustainable solution. Rather, data storage efficiency needs to be improved by optimizing components of data center infrastructure such as chips, modules, cards, switches, and routers, as well as the connections between them.

Already, electrical standards are gravitating away from Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) modulation and towards Pulse Amplitude Modulation-4 (PAM4) to facilitate data rates beyond 50Gb/s. PAM4’s advantage lies in its ability to take two bits at a time and map the signal amplitude towards one of four possible voltage levels, two times that of NRZ. Additionally, PAM4 signals are flexible in that they can be generated from either a single native source or two combined signal sources.

Example of output voltage levels. PAM4 cuts bandwidth of data rates in half by transmitting two bits in each symbol.

This is just one example of how we test for and ensure signal quality within data center networks. Combined with expertise in PHY layer conformance for networking & backplane technologies, GRL’s experts can help customers build data centers that meet new standards in performance, transmission distance, and product interoperability.

Matter standards are set up by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) to promote interoperability between IoT devices linked to wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, and Ethernet. As a standard that raises the bar for cybersecurity, Matter compliance is expected to become an increasingly crucial aspect of data privacy and safety moving forward.

Read all about our wireless IoT testing services here.

Ethernet technology is not just limited to homes and work devices, but data centers that provide the networks and feed data to said devices. The number of nodes in the average Ethernet network is expected to continue growing alongside social media growth, adoption of mobile phones, augmented reality, and IoT devices, as well as enterprises outsourcing data storage from internal servers to the cloud.

That's why Ethernet specification has expanded from 10G to 400G to keep up with rapidly growing demand for capacity in modern data centers. However, growing data centers indefinitely is not a sustainable solution. Rather, data storage efficiency needs to be improved by optimizing components of data center infrastructure such as chips, modules, cards, switches, and routers, as well as the connections between them.

Already, electrical standards are gravitating away from Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) modulation and towards Pulse Amplitude Modulation-4 (PAM4) to facilitate data rates beyond 50Gb/s. PAM4’s advantage lies in its ability to take two bits at a time and map the signal amplitude towards one of four possible voltage levels, two times that of NRZ. Additionally, PAM4 signals are flexible in that they can be generated from either a single native source or two combined signal sources.

Example of output voltage levels. PAM4 cuts bandwidth of data rates in half by transmitting two bits in each symbol.

This is just one example of how we test for and ensure signal quality within data center networks. Combined with expertise in PHY layer conformance for networking & backplane technologies, GRL’s experts can help customers build data centers that meet new standards in performance, transmission distance, and product interoperability.