Thanks to the hype surrounding areas like social media, cloud computing, analytics and Internet of Things(IoT), Networking is doesn’t get much highlights in the IT sector. But things are changing, the times “they are changing”. Due to immense traffic being generated by these technologies, networks are eventually coming under pressure. This is changing the traffic patterns on the networks. IT consumerism is increasing the number of devices on the network which access a wide variety of content. Imagine how much traffic a single user generates per day. A typical user installs Apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp, game apps, travel apps, etc. The amount of traffic generated is mind boggling. Yet, the user expects everything to work seamlessly. With continued adoption of intelligent building designs and smart cities, this trend is only going to pick-up more.
Companies are doing server virtualization; there are more VMs packed per server that communicate with each other. Big Data is in huge demand and requires clusters of resources to process information in real time. The implications? Huge workloads of data moving from one side of your data center to the other. Thus we have not only client-server communication but also east-west traffic flow, meaning greater server to server communication. Cloud computing is another big bandwidth hog. Whether, you are deploying a software defined data center or moving to hybrid cloud, the weak link is the network. Then we enter, IoT and sensor data. We will have smart connected devices like security systems (CCTVs, etc), health care machines, Lighting and Power Points etc. Will the traditional client/server based network handle this load? Network managers will need to ensure more reliable network access, seamless performance, access anywhere, as they manage a fragmented network growth. Network designers will need to start planning their new network architecture now to prepare it for the future. Decisions of whether to use mesh topology and fabric instead of the traditional hub should be looked at now. As well, technologies like Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) need to be taken seriously with a closer look at whether the network switches support protocols like OpenFlow, which are used in these technologies.
What about integration of wired and wireless networks? Decision needs to be made that it can be managed more seamlessly.
Finally, we there is security. Security threats have moved onto the application layer, implying the need for next-gen firewalls that can do deep packet inspection. Security now becomes more critical as users are more mobile and thus it is important to know who is on your network, what their role is and which device they are using etc. Firewalls have become a key security component and should be chosen carefully. Hardware or software based network security offers protection against sophisticated attacks. You require a firewall that can provide you comprehensive protection against not only today’s malware but also defend you against next generation security breaches. All this has dire implications of the network designs.
