HP Networking

Virtual service networks in a campus network: What are the key market drivers?

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By Dean Snyder, Global Product Strategy, HP Networking

2-6-2012 7-57-32 PM.jpg I’ve just been reviewing two previous blogs written by my colleagues: What’s the right path to a better network solution across the entire enterprise? and How virtual service networks lay the foundation for an agile, secure data center network. These two blogs familiarized you with HP’s vision for virtual service network (VSN) architecture and discussed viable paths to a better network solution across the entire enterprise? In addition, you were presented a closer look at the virtual service network (VSN) architecture in the context of the data center.

Missing from the discussion up until now is the campus network. Rapid changes are occurring on the edge of campus network forcing CIOs and administrators to respond. Just a few years ago, business began to pare down traditional multiple mobile devices they supported such as pagers, business handsets and laptops their employees carried with them for their job. Then comes the rapid ascend of Smartphones followed by iPhone and iPad. Theses example along with others are key catalyst driving change at the edge of the network. Let’s examine a couple of key market drivers forcing businesses and network vendors alike to think differently about the network edge. I’ve chosen the following two not because they are the only ones driving change, but they are arguably heavy hitters.

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Consumerization of IT

This trend is universally top of mind in most businesses today regardless if they’re a small business, higher education institution or a large Fortune 500 company. The fact that the boundaries of a company’s information network are not as clearly defined as in the past - is forcing businesses of all types to make changes to their security policies and provisioning practices for their network infrastructure. After all, the network is the paved highway with a GPS to a business’s corporate data. New wireless devices such as iPhones, Droids and iPads have invaded corporate networks. This Consumerization trend is here to stay because it enhances productivity, so businesses and vendors are forced to respond. If you don't allow access on mobile devices, your employees will work around you. Employers increasingly are acknowledging the benefits of these consumer devices in the work place, but are still highly concerned about protecting confidential corporate data. Evidence of this consumerization trend can be found in the recent market chatter on bring your own device (BYOD). Here are some interesting statistics that a few of the analysts are citing:

Gartner predicts by 2014, 90 percent of organizations will support corporate applications on personal devices. (1)
By 2015, the average U.S. citizen will have seven connected devices. (2)
Aberdeen Group reports the average number of mobile platforms currently supported by enterprises today is 2.9 and most of these are no longer Blackberry devices. (3)
Today, 62 percent of companies surveyed have formal BlackBerry support in place, 43 percent for iOS, 30 percent for Android, 24 percent for Windows Mobile, 13 percent for Symbian and 13 percent for Windows Phone. (3)

Rapid growth of wireless ports at the network edge

The tide is rising on the rapid growth of Wi-Fi deployment at the edge of a corporate network. This trend is expected to significantly take off over the next couple of years as wireless vendors begin to challenge traditional campus Ethernet wired switches on an equal level in areas such as scalability, performance, reliability and security. Over the next several years, we can expect to see highly mixed wired and wireless infrastructure environments operating at the network edge of most businesses, regardless of their size. What if administration of the network edge did not evolve? You would have bifurcation throughout your management ecosystem. Everything becomes 2X - setting and enforcing policies, infrastructure provisioning, security, infrastructure health, troubleshooting and compliance reporting are just a few examples.

Continuing the conversation on virtual service networks