IP Transformation Featuring research from Leveraging next-generation networking with TCS

IP Transformation Featuring research from Leveraging next-generation networking with TCS

In the enterprise network, we are entering the era of hyperconvergence, where all services are delivered by a common Internet Protocol (IP) network — not only for voice, video and data, but also for wired and wireless, and for storage and computing. We propose a new set of design and collaboration principles.

Key Findings

• Application traffic has become more unpredictable and more difficult to model.
• Key vendors, such as Cisco, HP and Oracle, are pursuing a fully integrated stack approach, spanning areas including networking, storage and servers. Taking advantage of these offerings requires a collaborative effort, with clear lines of decision making regarding the architecture.
• Standard hierarchical network designs inhibit consistently good performance.

Recommendations

• Network designers should focus their designs around end-to-end solutions for (1) broad infrastructure domains, such as the data center and the WAN, and (2) the workplace environment, such as the campus or branch office. Traditional, technology-centric domains, like voice, data, WAN, etc., only serve as barriers.
• Managers must also change the organization and collaborative structure by, at minimum, opening up the lines of communication between teams, led by cross-disciplinary leaders. Cost-effective support is achieved via a tightly integrated third-level planning team that is supported by teams of versatilists (that is, engineers who span multiple disciplines).
• Integrate all network domains and user access control mechanisms to enable seamless user connectivity at the network access and application traffic flow within the network by removing centralized control and connectivity hubs. Apply security policy at the first touchpoint to the network, at multiple layers within it.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

As cloud computing, virtualization, mobility, unified communications and video drive more application traffic to the network, traditional network design practices will become increasingly significant constraints on the functioning of the business. Traditional silos of server, storage and network are being combined as vendors sell integrated stack solutions. Security policy management capabilities have to exist at every touchpoint to the network. A new approach that brings together these disciplines enables organizations to make the right decisions about architecture, rather than being led by a single infrastructure view.

ANALYSIS

Driven by the CIO’s top priorities in cloud computing, mobility, unified communications and video, planners must think ahead to how networks are designed, how they are built and how they are run. “Dumb pipe” networks will not support the levels of scale, reliability or security that business leaders need. Therefore, the silos between network infrastructure and applications are breaking down, as evidenced by major trends such as context-aware computing, application-fluent networking and identity-aware networking. Meanwhile, cloud computing and virtualization are collapsing the boundaries between server, storage and network. The user environment is also moving to a mix of wireless and wired capabilities.

We see these changes collectively in the hyperconverged network — an approach in which compute, storage, content management, communication and application services are consumed over an integrated network, enabled by virtualization, with integrated security, independent of the network access method, defined by policy, and crafted to the specific device and situational need.

Corporate and government networks are hitting an inflection point. After years of merely evolving communication systems in a slow reaction to changing needs, a fundamental change in approach is necessary. This is not merely a move to a consolidated network, or to a common set of protocols. Instead, it is a multidisciplinary approach that anticipates changes in the work
environment, leverages a mix of consumerized and commoditized technologies, takes advantage of cloud-service capabilities, and maximizes the efficiency of the core backbone.

It is easy to see why this change must occur soon; end-user demands are rapidly changing. Collaboration systems will allow users to move seamlessly from traditional phone calling into audioconferencing, shared workspaces and videoconferencing — not as separate systems, but as an integrated experience. Voice, video and data can no longer be separate domains. Delivery cannot just be on-premises, thus restricting access to internal employees, but also must integrate to public cloud-based solutions that span multiple organizations — once again, with a minimum of user hassle. The resulting traffic flows will be more peer to peer in nature and less hierarchical.

Another reason why this change must occur soon is the messy nature of legacy network systems that comprise the typical network, even as more modern systems are thrown into the mix tactically. It is common to many different models of switches
and routers, and multiple PBX or key systems with little to no integration, all running dozens of different software versions. Many traditional equipment suppliers have gone out of business or moved on to new product portfolios. Maintenance
costs are on the rise. Complexity is the barrier to lowering cost, improving reliability and enhancing security. Old network designs based on old and invalid assumptions are common.

Cost is another aspect. Even as the cost of bandwidth from carriers has declined, the operational costs associated with maintaining networks have risen. Network systems and data communications analysts are projected to be the second-fastest-growing occupation in the U.S. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11). Total network costs, as a percentage of IT spending, currently measures 15% at minimum, a percentage that is likely to increase to more than 20% by 2014, driven by more wireless service consolidation into IT and the rapid rise of video.

To adapt, planners should focus on removing bottlenecks and complexity in the network so that they are able to adapt to the changing ways that business users access their applications, and to the changing, and even chaotic, traffic flows in their networks. This means that enterprise network design must move beyond the traditional network connectivity focus to
include how to connect users to applications, and essentially adapt their network solutions to changing application deployments and the changing business needs of these applications.

Enterprises need to plan their network design around the ongoing breakdown of traditional technology boundaries and traditional network constraints, where usually separate solution areas converge into the hyperconverged enterprise,
such as:

• Convergence in the data center of networking, servers and storage, enabling a more cost-effective network design in support of server virtualization
• Convergence of the LAN and WAN, in support of changing application deployment architectures (in particular, cloud computing, voice, video and collaboration)
• Convergence of the wired and wireless network, enabling the wireless office

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