Networking edge gaining prominence
The edge portion of the network is gaining a greater role within corporate infrastructure.
By Donna DonnawitzAugust 28, 2012
Data centers networks have shifted from the role of background facilitator into a key strategic resource that not only supports enterprise operations, but improves corporate functionality. Because of this, companies are increasingly looking for ways to improve how the network functions. According to a recent Enterprise Networking Planet report, this has led to a greater focus on the edge network.
The news source explained that cloud computing has created an environment in which the edge network, which is primarily made up of WAN and MAN infrastructure, has become much more important. More data is traveling from the data center out to end users and the way the data has to travel through the network is leading to a growing emphasis on delivering information to branch offices.
The report said this movement is leading to a growing investment climate for WAN optimization and similar technologies.
While this conclusion is widely considered accurate throughout the industry, many experts agree that WAN optimization and similar tools are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to network upgrades responding to the cloud. Companies supporting cloud infrastructure depend heavily on server virtualization, which leads to more data density within facilities. Furthermore, the automation and orchestration systems that make the cloud possible lead to more communication between servers, not just data traveling out to end users.
Because of this, cloud computing is leading to more east-west traffic between systems within the data center. This is a somewhat revolutionary movement, as east-west data transmissions were once just a small percentage of data center traffic. Therefore, businesses have to not only upgrade the core and access network systems for east-west transmissions, but also their edge infrastructure for north-south traffic out to end users.
To resolve the growing demand for network bandwidth in multiple trajectories throughout the data center, there is a growing trend toward network convergence and flattening throughout the enterprise sector. Such measures eliminate the three-layer approach to the network and converge all of the infrastructure on to a single layer. This makes the system much more flexible and adaptable to changing needs. It also provides for a network that can perform much better in line with the requirements set forth by the cloud and similar technological solutions. As such, the move to flatten Ethernet architectures is emerging as an important data center networking trend.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
The news source explained that cloud computing has created an environment in which the edge network, which is primarily made up of WAN and MAN infrastructure, has become much more important. More data is traveling from the data center out to end users and the way the data has to travel through the network is leading to a growing emphasis on delivering information to branch offices.
The report said this movement is leading to a growing investment climate for WAN optimization and similar technologies.
While this conclusion is widely considered accurate throughout the industry, many experts agree that WAN optimization and similar tools are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to network upgrades responding to the cloud. Companies supporting cloud infrastructure depend heavily on server virtualization, which leads to more data density within facilities. Furthermore, the automation and orchestration systems that make the cloud possible lead to more communication between servers, not just data traveling out to end users.
Because of this, cloud computing is leading to more east-west traffic between systems within the data center. This is a somewhat revolutionary movement, as east-west data transmissions were once just a small percentage of data center traffic. Therefore, businesses have to not only upgrade the core and access network systems for east-west transmissions, but also their edge infrastructure for north-south traffic out to end users.
To resolve the growing demand for network bandwidth in multiple trajectories throughout the data center, there is a growing trend toward network convergence and flattening throughout the enterprise sector. Such measures eliminate the three-layer approach to the network and converge all of the infrastructure on to a single layer. This makes the system much more flexible and adaptable to changing needs. It also provides for a network that can perform much better in line with the requirements set forth by the cloud and similar technological solutions. As such, the move to flatten Ethernet architectures is emerging as an important data center networking trend.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
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