Futureproofing the network infrastructure

As new service delivery models and business applications continue to appear in Australia, network infrastructure becomes ever more crucial to operating a healthy enterprise.

Companies need to consider a fast, stable network as being the very core of their business and adapt future planning to account for an even greater reliance on IP-enabled systems and solutions.

Why businesses need to adapt

Looking at the specific technologies that rely on a stable network, it becomes apparent that service levels will need to rise in the very near future to match the expectations of staff, clients and the general population. With the emergence of video as a key business tool, the development of cloud computing, increasing levels of mobility and the ongoing rise of BYOD in the enterprise, businesses need to evolve not just their business practices but also have a long-term infrastructure plan in order to support employees accessing these new technologies in an efficient and secure way. It all comes back to the network, and the latest infrastructure technologies are paving the way for a faster, more efficient and more reliable business user experience.

First and foremost, the network infrastructure of tomorrow needs to be scalable and flexible. A scalable infrastructure forms the basis of the network’s performance and will allow for today’s applications as well as leaving scope for implementing the next generation of applications.

Studies such as those conducted by Rice University in Houston, Texas, conclude that an enterprise network is best prepared for future scaling if it is a source-routed, IP-flow managed network with unrestricted routing. However, there are many new technologies in place that will support faster communications, more stable networks and allow for easier growth and convergence of systems.

The number of applications on a network increases from year to year. New applications are permanently in preparation. IP telephony, server virtualisation, cloud computing, video conferences and blade servers are only some of the drivers for always more bandwidth.

Perhaps the most obvious concern for a lot of companies is the capacity of legacy routers, with many hitting the global internet routing table limit. Simply put, the number of destination networks in the global internet continues to increase, and older routers were built with a capacity that is now surpassed. Major investment in routers will be on the agenda for a lot of companies, and internal debate will focus on the trade-off between upfront cost and getting a device with enough capacity to cope with the next generation of computing needs.

Looking next at video facilities and imaging, buildings themselves will need flexible distribution systems to allow communication technologies to expand. Image-related processing software should be flexible, adaptable and programmable to work as part of a converged solution, as well as to handle increasing file sizes in the future as imaging technology becomes increasingly high-resolution and sophisticated. It should also be scalable and embeddable — in other words, the use or place where the software is employed is variable and the software needs to accommodate the variable environment. Higher processing integration and capacity is required to support future computational requirements in image processing as well.

Fibre is ringing in the changes

Internet and telecommunications will come to rely more heavily on fibre as the NBN rolls out across the country and enterprise adapts to the best use of this increased capacity. There is a clear perception that the NBN will drive a massive structural change in organisations over the next 10 years or so.

With the advent of infinitely faster broadband, many businesses (especially SMBs) will find that their infrastructure doesn’t have the capacity to do it justice. Higher speeds will be there, but legacy hardware won’t be able to keep up with demand, so the higher speeds will have a limited effect. Another issue for companies is that many peripheral devices such as phones, EFTPOS machines and managed security alarms will have to be upgraded, as older models simply won’t work with fibre broadband.

In enterprises where this is not the case, the NBN will allow faster back-ups and storage, as well as better video streaming and communications. End users will come to expect a seamless experience, driven by high-volume, very fast Ethernet.

Large-scale networks such as those found in mining, sporting stadiums and utilities can benefit from new technologies such as Power-over-Fibre (PoF), Powered Fibre Cabling (PFC) or hybrid cabling. While PoE has been a standard for increasing operational efficiencies for a number of years, Powered Fibre Cable provides a very fast, scalable solution for providing both power and connectivity for large-area networks. In the same way that PoE supplies powered devices such as small cells, HD CCTV cameras, digital signage, Wi-Fi hotspots and other remote devices in a large-area network, powered fibre can supply the same devices with power but greatly increase the speed and capacity of the data that travels along the same lines.

Again, the tipping point for many large organisations will be the cost-to-benefit ratio. Can the task be performed using existing technologies that are cheaper to purchase?; can I integrate my existing infrastructure with a fibre network?, and so forth. A network of powered devices that is adaptable, scalable and has the capacity for a future where data flow has increased dramatically must be supported by fast, high-capacity cabling. IP surveillance cameras, for example, will increase the resolution of the images they capture and send back to a monitoring centre. Converged solutions such as a security, alarm and access control system will need to be monitored in real time, by a single pane of glass, which will require a fast, stable network.

The NBN will also increase the uptake of cloud-based solutions and applications, which will continue to drive more and more business to data centres. This in turn will fundamentally alter the requirements of a modern network, as well as speed up the evolution of the data centre itself.

How data centres can adapt for the future

According to network vendor Extreme Networks, several technology inflection points are changing the way data centre networks are architected, deployed and operated, for storage as well as public and private cloud.

This causes paradigm shifts as users gravitate towards a new generation of stable networks. Networks need to find a way to handle the vast base of existing enterprise application workloads, such as database-driven and Windows applications, and incorporate them into standardised cloud architecture.

As these end-user and application requirements evolve rapidly, they drive new approaches to building data centre networks. Network stability becomes a critical issue amongst enterprise users, hence it is vitally important to futureproof the network infrastructure.

Extreme states that the infrastructure should be built with open standards-based and interoperable all-Ethernet fabric architectures. One solid approach is enabling next-generation data centres with open, standards-based and interoperable all-Ethernet fabric architectures.

An all-Ethernet fabric approach to data centre networking includes high-speed connectivity, ultralow latency with reduced tiers and network hops, multipath mesh-type connectivity, high resiliency and support for network and converged storage. Data centre networks can also evolve based on virtualisation intelligence and by harnessing the benefits of energy-efficient systems that deliver performance using less space and power.

Enterprises considering upgrading to next-generation Ethernet fabric architecture, based on 10 and 40 Gigabit speeds, should consider three criteria. Avoid proprietary technology approaches that result in costly vendor lock-in, thus improving long-term costs and reliability; reduce ‘holistic’ data centre physical infrastructure footprint (switches, routers, racks servers and power supplies) achieving high efficiency; and seek to achieve low latency and resiliency for converged storage and sensitive applications.

With an all-Ethernet data centre fabric, a number of operational features are key to building a successful data centre fabric solution.

The first comprises resilient, multiple active links leveraging technologies such as TRILL and MLAG. The Ethernet fabric is formed by configuring inter-device connectivity to meet specific business needs. Due to regulations like HIPAA, the data centre should have physical controls in place.

From an operational perspective, this means deciding what resources are to be protected: a fabric protecting only edge switches differs from one protecting both top-of-rack and end-of-row. Some controls include redundancy of all systems to ensure the data is available all the time. This can be implemented through MLAG where a link can be added without any interruption in service.

Next is a reactive data plane, where technologies like identity management and network virtualisation are important. The fabric must react to changes, not just in topology but in content. If a virtual machine (VM) becomes active or a new storage array is brought online, the fabric must reconfigure itself to reflect the presence of that data centre element.

An open control plane is essential: software-defined networking is an area of focus where the open fabric contains a mix of assigned resources, including those assigned to data centre elements that are relatively static (uplinks, storage, etc), and resources that are part of a pool controlled by logic outside the data plane. The administrator must designate these explicitly.

Finally, the open fabric builder must seek to achieve an energy-efficient system. A device that consumes power as low as 5 W per 10G port can help with the green initiatives.

By using data centre switching solutions that adhere to industry standards and protocols rather than proprietary schemes, an enterprise can futureproof a network, optimise the overall TCO and deliver performance necessary to grow and scale as it transitions to a 10/40/100G optimised network fabric.

With these futureproofing strategies in place, long-term network stability will become more possible for businesses grappling with the rationale for the adoption of cloud infrastructures. Moving forward, the extent of scalability for cloud infrastructures will increase, benefiting more enterprise users, before the next technology inflection point hits again.

By thinking towards the future rather than minimising expenditure in the short term, companies in Australia can prepare for a world where high-speed internet rules, services move into the cloud, video communications become truly seamless and mobile connectivity is fast, safe and reliable.

Image credit: ©Warakorn/Dollar Photo Club