Networking technologies grew substantially in 2011
The networking sector experienced significant innovations during the past year.
By Donna DonnawitzDecember 28, 2011
For years, the networking world was trapped in a quagmire, its growth limited by a murky economy, a lack of innovation and enterprise IT departments that were far more focused on other parts of the technological stack. This all began to change as gradual progress began in 2010 and major growth hit the networking sector in 2011, Network Computing reported.
To a great extent, the years of ignoring the networking sector have contributed to the wave of innovation in 2011. As IT departments made upgrades in the direction of virtualization and the cloud, networking changes became necessary to support the more robust data transit needs presented by these technologies.
According to the news source, this sudden need for new networking systems has led to the implementation of a number of new processes. These innovative solutions include the transparent interconnection of lots of links, multichassis link aggregation, propriety protocols and shortest path bridging.
The report said these new protocols are all aimed at a specific goal - getting spanning tree protocol out of service. While spanning tree has been effective for quite some time, it is ill-equipped to handle the sophisticated demands of contemporary data center environments. As a result, these new protocols have proven instrumental in introducing high-performance network capabilities into the data center sector.
All of these new protocols fall under the same broad classification of multipath Ethernet systems, which became much more popular in 2011. The news source explained that these offerings provide advanced capabilities in the data center. However, none are compatible with current standards. This issues arises for two reasons. The first is that some are not fully ratified, and therefore do not have a standard they can match. The other is that the early iterations of these protocols are expected to be different than their final versions, making standards-makers slow to focus on the protocols.
Despite some small issues, multipath Ethernet is among the many networking innovations that made 2011 an important year for the sector. Moving forward, experts agree significant networking upgrades and changes will be made in light of cloud computing's growing popularity, the advent of IPv6 and other emerging trends. Because of these shifts, the networking sector could be poised for more changes and growth opportunities moving into 2012.
Perle’s serial to Ethernet converters connect serial based equipment across an Ethernet network. The Perle IOLAN range of Console Servers, Device Servers and Terminal Servers feature built-in support for IPv6 along with a broad range of authentication methods and encryption technologies.
To a great extent, the years of ignoring the networking sector have contributed to the wave of innovation in 2011. As IT departments made upgrades in the direction of virtualization and the cloud, networking changes became necessary to support the more robust data transit needs presented by these technologies.
According to the news source, this sudden need for new networking systems has led to the implementation of a number of new processes. These innovative solutions include the transparent interconnection of lots of links, multichassis link aggregation, propriety protocols and shortest path bridging.
The report said these new protocols are all aimed at a specific goal - getting spanning tree protocol out of service. While spanning tree has been effective for quite some time, it is ill-equipped to handle the sophisticated demands of contemporary data center environments. As a result, these new protocols have proven instrumental in introducing high-performance network capabilities into the data center sector.
All of these new protocols fall under the same broad classification of multipath Ethernet systems, which became much more popular in 2011. The news source explained that these offerings provide advanced capabilities in the data center. However, none are compatible with current standards. This issues arises for two reasons. The first is that some are not fully ratified, and therefore do not have a standard they can match. The other is that the early iterations of these protocols are expected to be different than their final versions, making standards-makers slow to focus on the protocols.
Despite some small issues, multipath Ethernet is among the many networking innovations that made 2011 an important year for the sector. Moving forward, experts agree significant networking upgrades and changes will be made in light of cloud computing's growing popularity, the advent of IPv6 and other emerging trends. Because of these shifts, the networking sector could be poised for more changes and growth opportunities moving into 2012.
Perle’s serial to Ethernet converters connect serial based equipment across an Ethernet network. The Perle IOLAN range of Console Servers, Device Servers and Terminal Servers feature built-in support for IPv6 along with a broad range of authentication methods and encryption technologies.
