Examining the landscape of the financial technology sector in 2020
Until recently, traditional financial institutions were the sole option for consumers to make marketplace transactions, manage their portfolio, and apply for loans. But as the market continues to develop more advanced and efficient financial technology, FinTechs like Stripe, SoFi, and Coinbase are presenting themselves as convenient alternatives. With over 12,000 FinTechs created since 2008, industry members are looking to differentiate themselves through frequent innovation and a consumer-oriented business model. By offering convenient service and highly personalized digital interfaces, there is no question of why millions of consumers are making the switch to FinTech.
According to a 2018 study performed by KPMG, FinTechs received $52.5 billion in investments, making the financial technology industry among the fastest-growing in the U.S. While this increase in funding is positive news for FinTechs, it is also a cause for concern for many data center managers. As FinTech data centers continue to implement complex processes like artificial intelligence and blockchain into their infrastructure, network technicians are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with rising consumer demand for their services.
To combat this, data center professionals are continuing to improve their server’s processing capacity by boosting density or even upgrading their networks interface to 100G/400G. Another potential solution often deployed by data center managers is ensuring their servers are connected to high capacity/low latency switches, with the proper density to support complex projects.
Why are FinTech companies are outgrowing their legacy data centers?
- Legacy data centers lack the bandwidth and latency that is crucial for FinTechs who specialize in services like high-frequency trading or P2P transactions.
- Shortage of floor space in existing data centers prohibits additional servers from being installed.
- Implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence has pushed legacy data centers to their limits, due to the vast amount of data needed for the proper execution of these processes.
- Low data center processing capacity restricts FinTechs from fully utilizing their servers when performing vital network functions
Top 4 solutions to increase network capacity, space, and lower latency:
- Parallel Series Module Transceivers – QSFP transceivers offer options to aggregate multiple 10G, 25G, 50G, or 100G fiber-optic connections to a single network port, providing data center space and power savings.
- Direct Attached Cables (DACs) – DACs offer low latency, connectivity for top-of-rack data center infrastructures, and support data rates of 10G to 400G. In addition to high performance, DACs provide significant power savings over standard transceivers solutions.
- Core and Leaf/Spine upgrades with QSFP-DD– Network elements designed QSFP-DD form factor offers the flexibility to support 400G, 200G, and even 100G data rates. The QSFP-DD ecosystem features a wide range of transceivers and network cabling for both direct connect and network aggregation applications.
- OM5 Fiber– Driven by multimode ‘bidirectional’ transceivers and network monitoring applications. OM5 is not only backward compatible with OM4 and OM3 infrastructure but offers higher performance with longer reach across links.
Why choose AddOn for your data center upgrades?
AddOn offers advanced upgrades for enterprises who want to future-proof their IT infrastructure. Whether your concern is connectivity, efficiency, or cost, we can provide you with reliable solutions covered by a comprehensive lifetime warranty.