22/03/2011

Native Packet Optical networks empow…

Native Packet Optical networks empower next-generation Ethernet service migration by Jon Baldry, Transmode March 21, 2011 We have all seen the charts that show traffic exploding throughout residential and business netw orks over the next few years. We’ve been presented with similar predictions since the mid 1990s (and probably earlier). Yet now it really seems to be happening. So w hat is different this time around? Two main factors – attractive and viable applications and low er cost transport – combine to explain this wave of bandwidth. These two catalysts go hand in hand, as neither could drive the current rapid growth without the other. The enterprise services industry, like the residential services industry, has a natural grow th curve as day-today operations drive the need for fatter and fatter access pipes. But we also see a rapid rise in new applications that further drive bandwidth to the enterprise. Key to these is the start of the shift tow ards cloud computing and virtualization of applications that were traditionally held in-house, such as distributed email and services such as salesforce.com. Furthermore, the move to Ethernet as a common transport mechanism has allowed the industry to drive costs dow n in transport networks , which has further increased the viability of these new services. But there is still a long w ay to go in terms of migrating and optimizing today’s transport networks from legacy T1 and SONET/SDH services to Ethernet transport for these new services. So, let us look at where these services are going as we need to understand the future, as best w e can, before w e can embark on a strategy to migrate our netw orks. Ethernet and enterprise services The enterprise services industry includes many vertical sectors; providers offer services to the finance industry; media; small, medium and large enterprises; and education and local government sectors to name a few. Each has its own