Leveraging Digital Twin Technologies: All-Photonics Networks-as-a-Service for Data Center Xchange in the Era of AI [Invited Tutorial]

Abstract: This paper presents a data center exchange (Data Center Xchange, DCX) architecture for all-photonics networks-as-a-service in distributed data center infrastructures, enabling the creation of a virtual large-scale data center by directly interconnecting distributed data centers in metropolitan areas. Key requirements for such an architecture are identified: support for low-latency operations, scalability, reliability, and flexibility within a single network architecture; the ability to add new operator-driven automation functionalities based on an open networking approach; and the ability to control and manage remotely deployed transponders connected via access links with unknown physical parameters. We propose a set of technologies that enable digital twin operations for optical networks, including a cloud-native architecture for coherent transceivers, remote transponder control, fast end-to-end optical path provisioning, transceiver-based physical-parameter estimation incorporating digital longitudinal monitoring, and optical line system calibration, demonstrating their feasibility through field validations.