In order to better support the delivery of email to more users cost effectively, the designers of network equipment built in over subscription; basically to deliver more ports, at a lower price, but each port will never have full bandwidth capability.  This was perfectly fine for the e-mail application and many devices were oversubscribed at 4:1 or more and deployed in a classic Access – Distribution – Core  model.  This is essentially 64:1 over-subscription in each direction – again not a problem for a bursty, non-real-time and asymmetric traffic flow.  We all assumed VoIP would change LANs, but a 64kb/s traffic flow doesn’t get congested too often on a GbE LAN and if it does some simple QoS prioritisation can deal with it.

But the adoption of Web2.0 applications will kill your Infrastructure…..  If its Social Enterprise, SOA, VM, Grids, Clouds – public or private your data no longer goes North South, in fact it travels in every conceivable direction and as you move towards a Cloud based application model your nice local predicable data is now various IP hops away over your 64:1 contended network…  And as all network managers know jitter and latency kills applications.

So, in summary, today’s applications require a new infrastructure, a 2.0 Infrastructure – low latency, low hops, flat and simple network.  If you don’t have one, best you get one…..

The traditional three tier switching model of Access, Distribution and Core was conceived by Cisco in the days where data thus traffic flowed vertically to a single point, gathering speed on the way.  100Mbp/s access to GbE uplinks aggregated on 10GbE switches at the core, these in turn fed big fat application specific hosts with GbE network adaptors pushing and pulling very similar data types – mostly all fat clients.

The world is now flat….. Well, its getting flatter by the day.  Applications will no longer live in private data centres; Enterprises will use a mix of SaaS and Private Cloud solutions to meet tomorrow’s demands.  Virtualisation will allow business to turn up and down IT resources to meet with demand.  This has a huge effect on your network infrastructure.

To add to your woes, your staff are using more and more Social Applications, not just Facebook and YouTube but Google Apps, Internet chat and Blogging are all seeing a huge increase within the Enterprise.

So what do I do?

The concern with the traditional model is latency – forcing packets to stop at every layer.  Enterprises should build networks with a distribution layer of 10 GbE switches that is flattened out, becoming the communication link between servers with as few hops as possible, thus killing network latency.

Leaf-spine topology for computing network architecture

Some describe this two-layer switching method as leaf-spine switching topology or, similarly, a fat-tree switching topology.  In this scenario, servers are connected to leaf switches, which are then connected to a broad web of spine switches that provide interconnected bandwidth between leafs and spines.

This fabric of switches, which includes as many ports as possible, allows equal bandwidth access to every connection, enabling non-blocked movement data in an any-to-any server environment. Cloud leaf fabric controls the flow of traffic between servers, while the spine switching fabric moves traffic between nodes bi-directionally.

Very little is static in a cloud environment. Instances of servers and networks are provisioned at the drop of a hat.  To this end, the network architect must seek out a partner that understands the end-to-end solution from Application to User.  Varidion are a next generation service provider that builds and operates fully managed Infrastructure as a service that allows Enterprises to focus on the business elements of IT and not the technology end.

Remember – The network is the Computer!

So what?

Well its simple, if today you detect and remove the use of file-sharing software within your business by managing and removing applications loaded onto your PCs, then this method is now redundant.  That is, unless you plan to remove browsers from your PCs?

Browser-based file sharing applications are a direct avenue for the transfer of confidential data and allows user download of infected files and malware-infested advertising.

The remedy is simple; you need to identify and control your applications at the network layer.  By their very nature, P2P, Malware and many Web2.0 applications masquerade as valid web and SSL traffic by hiding within their ports and protocols.  So unless your firewall can identify these rogue applications you have no way of controlling them.  Can your firewall distinguish between valid http and file-sharing http?

At Varidion, our Next Generation Firewall can identify and classify some 900 applications so control and protection is simple.  If you still managing by port & protocol speak to us about a free trial of our service, we will even give you a report outlining all the applications in use on your network.  I guarantee we’ll find something you don’t like!

Cloud or Sheep?

It’s all Cloud, SaaS, Cloud, SaaS…

But to someone who has always started  a topology workshop by drawing a “Welsh Lover ” in the middle of the whiteboard when discussing ICT architecture with customers it’s not a surprise.  What’s is a surprise, is the way the “The Cloud” is being used by every provider, be they Network, Application or Systems Integrator, most who haven’t changed their product in years, but market their “new” Cloud or SaaS based service…..   That will be the Herd Behaviour!

Applications have changed and so have the rules; speak to Varidion about how our Hydra, the Cloud Networking Platform can deliver your applications quicker, cheaper and more securely.

Well not a server as a CIO knows of it today, not even a blade, the cutting edge of servers as they currently see it…

Our view at Varidion is the world of virtualisation is about to collide head-on with the world of networking as the applications of tomorrow will be run directly on what we know today as an Ethernet switch.  The reasons are simple; as the enterprise continues to deploy highly loaded virtualised servers running hotter and hotter it’s the network that will struggle to keep up with the server, so we have a couple of options:

Improve the network – The quickest way to improving your virtualized data centre as its likely both the topology and the type of switches installed are causing high latency with inefficient topologies.  In the vitualised world, three tier switching models don’t cut the mustard, a flat, low latency, switching infrastructure is the order of the day.  Unfortunately, even the “new way”  has a ceiling of 10Gbp/s or maybe 40Gbp/s in the near future!

More servers – By sharing the network and processing load across more servers a greatly improve performance will clearly be achieved, but so also will the cost.  Every server will need a network port, power and environmentals.  Not the ideal option!

However, there is a third way!   Today’s data centre Ethernet switches deliver significant processing power and Varidion believe if each logical Ethernet port could provide enough processing power to support a virtual appliance, the problem is solved.   An enterprise could literally have hundreds and hundreds of mini virtual servers that will admittedly support a reduced number of session per server but a greatly increased number of servers all sending and receiving at 1 Gbp/s.

Consolidation will occur but who will prevail? Watch this space!

“Banning access to social media from the corporate network is futile.”

Carol is correct, we can’t stop social networking, you only have to look at the largest firewall installed, China!   They have failed to manage the flow of incoming information via Web 2.0 sites.  Today’s world we live in is digitally enabled and socially connected.  Moreover, the enterprise cannot protect its self from everything, they must learn to balance risk and performance, cloud and software as a service has great value, but they will introduce a change in how technology is managed and controlled.  Web 2.0, SaaS and Internet based social networking applications to carry real threats to corporations and must be managed effectively with today’s tools that understand these tools…

While road construction and technology has clearly changed since the 8^th Centaury its what’s happening under them, that’s revolutionizing the world of communications.  Ironically, the solution has been looking telcos literally in the face every day.

Why don’t we run a LAN for longer distances?

Traditional Ethernet-based networks that have been deployed in enterprise LANs because of their simplicity, low equipment cost, high speed and multivendor interoperability can now be delivered as Ethernet-based WAN services as true replacement to traditional WAN services.  Ethernet services should be the standard for the enterprise; All of the time.  Their simplicity and scalability provides connectivity from 1Mbp/s to 1Gbp/s with no specialized equipment, moreover a single Ethernet WAN pipe can securely provide multiple services such as MPLS, Internet, Voice, Video and Applications brought to you as on-demand services (SaaS).

Sounds expensive I hear you cry….

Therein lies the challenge; it’s more expensive than SDH MPLS, but it’s about total cost of ownership; Ethernet wont need to be upgraded, you can consolidate the “comms pipes” entering you building and remove the need for expensive slow routing equipment.  Quite simply it’s a no brainer.

If you’re looking to upgrade or refresh your network give Varidion a call and discuss the benefits of  Ethernet WAN, and I guarantee the call will save you money…