Cables

Inside Track: Spotting structure between network noise

Longform
Image: Stockfresh

13 October 2015

Network complexity
“The need to deliver IT services to a widening array of endpoints connected from disparate locations has vastly increased the complexity being driven into the network, leaving organisations struggling”

Triangle Richard O’Brien, IT director

From our experience the consumerisation of IT and the need to deliver IT services to a widening array of endpoints connected from disparate locations has vastly increased the complexity being driven into the network. This generates demand for solutions in a number of areas which we see organisations struggling to deal with.

  • Extensive state information needing to be captured for multiple network points and flows driving demand for information platforms such as VMWare’s vRealize Operations suite
  • The extension of the network service to the public cloud while retaining control and without incurring operational penalty, this has increased interest in SDN and the de-coupling of management from data planes; a good example being VMWare’s NSX platform along with their vCloud Air service
  • High flexibility in management of network configuration and demand for programmatic interfaces, to interact with and orchestrate against, network and security platforms at provisioning time, and throughout the lifecycle of services

vRealize Automation and VMWare NSX are tools we are utilising today to address these challenges for customers.

 

 

Wave 2 Wi-Fi
“Employee’s need always on, versatile, device agnostic connectivity” Pictured: Ray O’Connor (Country Manager, 3Com Ireland)

HPE Aruba Ray O’Connor

As we move further into the mobility first world, Ireland’s organisations will need to tackle the challenges and opportunity this creates.
Employee’s need always on, versatile, device agnostic connectivity. HPE Aruba are leading the way in providing the solutions to deliver this. Network access control (NAC), performance, along with BYOD are some of the challenges faced.With the launch of wave 2 Wi-Fi, which delivers multi-Gb point to point wireless connectivity, organisations for the first time can completely replace wired connectivity with a mobile wireless strategy. Next generation networks will be mobile first, IE designed to deliver high performance wireless as opposed to the traditional approach of wireless overlay.HPE Aruba lead the way with solutions such as Clearpass, which is the choice of many of the global multinationals for secure mobile access control.

 

Multiple skillset requirement
“The challenge for customers is further complicated by the blossoming of “hybrid” operating models, which could mean a hybrid cloud computing environment, a hybrid of wired and wireless networking, a hybrid of corporate-owned and personal mobile devices, or all of the above” Tadhg_Foley_Kedington_web
Kedington Tadhg Foley, director, Solutions Division
In general, the main challenge we’re seeing customers grapple with is to cope with the speed of changing expectations for networks, and the demands to add more flexibility and visibility to their network. It’s a goal shared by many enterprises trying to find smarter ways to manage networks while being thrown curveball after curveball — everything from cloud computing to bring your own device initiatives.The challenge for customers is further complicated by the blossoming of “hybrid” operating models, which could mean a hybrid cloud computing environment, a hybrid of wired and wireless networking, a hybrid of corporate-owned and personal mobile devices, or all of the above. All of these things are putting pressure on network managers to implement new tools and best practices that help them keep up with more diverse network requirements.

We are in the front line of helping organisations redesign and upgrade their networks to meet these changing demands. If we take for example, wireless technology; deploying this has caused many organisations a lot of problems. This is because it’s not always easy to successfully design and deploy wireless access layer solutions. It requires multiple skill sets, rarely found within a single organisation. In addition to the normal networking skills, IP security etc., a wireless network will be deployed throughout the physical fabric of a building.

A provider needs to have experience in providing connectivity to these distributed wireless access points as well as a comprehensive understanding of RF technology. In our experience, people sometimes forget that a basic requirement for a wireless network is a robust, well planned and deployed wired one! These requirements play to our strengths as we have been implementing wired networks for twenty five years and have been working with wireless networks since their introduction in the market.

It’s the same principle for SDN or network infrastructure management. The fact that we build networks at the basic cabling level, right up to the infrastructure management layer means that we fundamentally understand how all the various technologies fit together, how and why they’ve evolved and we aren’t relying on third parties to help fill knowledge gaps. As a result, we’re able to be the customer’s long term partner for managing the network and we can ensure they’re never struggling to keep up with the rate of change.

 

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