Media converters can help organization keep pace with data center changes

The network is at the center of many changes in the data center industry. A recent Hitachi whitepaper explained that the next few years will be a period of major changein the data center sector.

Considering how the data center is shifting
Cloud computing seems to be at the center of everything. The news source explained that many organizations are turning to the cloud to support their rising service demands. However, the cloud is rising, to a great extent, as a response to changes in how companies handle data.

The whitepaper explained that data growth is happening in terms of volume, the velocity at which companies take in and analyze information, the variety of data handled by businesses and the value that corporations get from information. Because data is so important, IT systems are becoming an increasingly important part of enterprise operations.

The data center is changing in response to how companies are using information to improve day-to-day operations. According to Hitachi, this will create an environment in which virtualization, cloud computing, internal and third-party infrastructure services and other advanced technologies become central to business functions. As a result, automation and rapid data transit will become key components in data centers.

Understanding how these trends impact the data center
At their core, all of these changes in the data center will lead to more east-west traffic in facilities. In the past, the vast majority of data transmissions were between the core network and access systems that send data out to end users. This north-south traffic has been central to the network for yearsand many data centers are built for such operations. Virtualization, cloud computing and similar solutions center around more traffic between servers,storage arrays and other systems within the data center. As a result, east-west traffic rises alongside north-south traffic, creating network complexity.

Performance upgrades in storage, backhaul and access networks are often a necessary solution in the evolving data center climate. When it comes to future demand in some segments of the network, you have to think about fiber-optic cabling. This makes media converters essential because most of the data center will require copper-based Ethernet systems. However, many key aspects of the network will soon require optical connectivity to support enterprise operations, especially in terms of big data functionality. As a result, fiber to Ethernet media conversion tools are becoming essential.