Convergence, Converged Networking and Cloud Computing; The Rackonomics Imperative
Today's trends of convergence, converged networking and cloud computing mean different things to different people. To consumers, convergence means unified billing and customer service for combinations of phone, Internet access and TV on a single wire. Converged networking implies that these services come on a single wire. And, cloud computing alludes to Google Apps, Web 2.0 and VideoOnDemand.
To enterprises, convergence signifies the vital importance of always-on, high-speed access to secure telecommunications networks. In fact, enterprise IT departments name their number-one priority when building a new data center as access to telecommunications networks.
To the enterprise, converged networking points to the promise of delivering data, storage and inter-process communications across a single unified fabric, a single wire for all enterprise applications and services, including VoIP, enterprise apps, VideoOnDemand and secure access to enterprise data. Today, convergence on converged data center networks has become viable primarily due to the emergence of affordable 10 Gigabit Ethernet on mainstream servers and affordably priced blade and top-of-rack 10Gb switches, such as BLADE's new RackSwitch and embedded blade server switches for HP, IBM and NEC.
Cloud computing, which Forrester Research defines as a "pool of abstracted, highly scalable and managed compute infrastructure capable of hosting end-customer applications and billed by consumption", promises exciting new applications such as 3D technology that allows you to have conference calls with others and place them on the left right, front or rear. Until you have heard a conference call in 3D stereo, you have not heard a conference call. In addition, the technology allows the addition of overtones like adding a metallic sound to a speaker or group of speakers on a conference call. This is great if you are looking to find a way to discern what group a person belongs to -- the London office for example.
However, there are problems in the cloud. James Staten of Forrester Research notes that growing pains will plague cloud computing in its early stages. Staten projects that outages lengths will decrease from the eight-hour incident that took down Amazon's S3 cloud storage service and the congestion that plagued Apple's MobileMe service across several days beginning on July 18, ostensibly because of the failure of an email server. For this recent news about cloud computing outages, see Systems Management News With outages of hours and days, enterprise acceptance of cloud computing will clearly require the most reliable, available and high-bandwidth access to telecommunications networks underpinned by an exceptionally robust data center infrastructure.
To BLADE and its customers, literally half of the Fortune 500, convergence, converged networking and cloud computing are practical matters. Bottom line, data center networks must work right every time and all the time, around the clock and around the globe. The wave of the future is convergence on 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks, converged single-fabric networks using iSCSI or the rapidly emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) technologies, and ever more productivity-enhancing and interactive applications and services in the cloud. And that wave is driving the Rackonomics imperative for non-stop, high-performance, low-latency and energy-efficient data center networks that can be scale out and replicated on a massive scale. To the enterprise, that's what convergence, cloud computing and converged networking are all about.
NetEvents.tv has posted a new documentary about the future of convergence, converged networking and cloud computing entitled, "100 Gig Ethernet - Why, How and When?" in which I am interviewed, along with other industry executives. The documentary is hosted by journalist, Manek Dubash. To view the video, go to:
To enterprises, convergence signifies the vital importance of always-on, high-speed access to secure telecommunications networks. In fact, enterprise IT departments name their number-one priority when building a new data center as access to telecommunications networks.
To the enterprise, converged networking points to the promise of delivering data, storage and inter-process communications across a single unified fabric, a single wire for all enterprise applications and services, including VoIP, enterprise apps, VideoOnDemand and secure access to enterprise data. Today, convergence on converged data center networks has become viable primarily due to the emergence of affordable 10 Gigabit Ethernet on mainstream servers and affordably priced blade and top-of-rack 10Gb switches, such as BLADE's new RackSwitch and embedded blade server switches for HP, IBM and NEC.
Cloud computing, which Forrester Research defines as a "pool of abstracted, highly scalable and managed compute infrastructure capable of hosting end-customer applications and billed by consumption", promises exciting new applications such as 3D technology that allows you to have conference calls with others and place them on the left right, front or rear. Until you have heard a conference call in 3D stereo, you have not heard a conference call. In addition, the technology allows the addition of overtones like adding a metallic sound to a speaker or group of speakers on a conference call. This is great if you are looking to find a way to discern what group a person belongs to -- the London office for example.
However, there are problems in the cloud. James Staten of Forrester Research notes that growing pains will plague cloud computing in its early stages. Staten projects that outages lengths will decrease from the eight-hour incident that took down Amazon's S3 cloud storage service and the congestion that plagued Apple's MobileMe service across several days beginning on July 18, ostensibly because of the failure of an email server. For this recent news about cloud computing outages, see Systems Management News With outages of hours and days, enterprise acceptance of cloud computing will clearly require the most reliable, available and high-bandwidth access to telecommunications networks underpinned by an exceptionally robust data center infrastructure.
To BLADE and its customers, literally half of the Fortune 500, convergence, converged networking and cloud computing are practical matters. Bottom line, data center networks must work right every time and all the time, around the clock and around the globe. The wave of the future is convergence on 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks, converged single-fabric networks using iSCSI or the rapidly emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) technologies, and ever more productivity-enhancing and interactive applications and services in the cloud. And that wave is driving the Rackonomics imperative for non-stop, high-performance, low-latency and energy-efficient data center networks that can be scale out and replicated on a massive scale. To the enterprise, that's what convergence, cloud computing and converged networking are all about.
NetEvents.tv has posted a new documentary about the future of convergence, converged networking and cloud computing entitled, "100 Gig Ethernet - Why, How and When?" in which I am interviewed, along with other industry executives. The documentary is hosted by journalist, Manek Dubash. To view the video, go to:
Labels: Rackonomics RackSwitch BLADE Network Technologies Vikram Mehta
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