Preparing for the network of the future
Published: April 26, 2006
By Howard Baldwin
Take steps now to ensure that your organization can quickly take advantage of convergence as it evolves.
In Summary:
| • | Install an Internet Protocol (IP)-based infrastructure that accommodates data, voice, wired and wireless communications. |
| • | Invest in network devices such as routers and switches that are easy to upgrade. |
| • | Ensure that your network and security monitoring applications can handle new methods of access, such as from broadband wireless networks or data-enabled cell phones. |
Usually new technology starts in the enterprise and filters down to midsize companies. Here is an exception: the network of the future. This is the one that handles both data and voice communications and uses widely deployed Internet Protocol (IP) technology rather than the time-division multiplex (TDM) technology found in traditional telephone systems. This emerging network is taking off among midsize companies. According to a recent study of largely midsize companies from the research firm IDC, businesses are planning to spend even more on phone systems in the next few years than they do on basic networking equipment.
Midsize companies are jumping on IP telephony because they are more likely than bigger companies to run into the "trigger points" that make upgrading to an integrated network attractive. These trigger points include the expiration of a lease on a PBX (for public branch exchange) or Centrex system (a smaller company is more likely to have signed up for a shorter lease period), which means they are going to have to upgrade one way or the other. Other reasons might include growth or the opening of a new office, with the opportunity for deploying a new communications system.
However you encounter it, the integrated IP-based network is the future for a variety of reasons, including the ability to reduce the amount of network management required and the ability to deploy new productivity-enhancing applications. But to prepare for this transition, you need not only to understand the access technologies and devices you will have to manage, but also identify the kind of flexibility you will need in your networking equipment. You will also have to think more carefully about monitoring and security.
What the IP infrastructure brings
The IP infrastructure brings the following benefits to information technology (IT) managers:
| • | Deep levels of integration and multimedia convergence |
| • | One (versus two) network to manage, and one fewer set of protocols (and jargon) |
| • | An integrated view of communications that will lead to better-informed decisions about bandwidth and network device needs |
A combined voice and data network offers the opportunity to deploy more intelligent communication tools, such as unified messaging, call-forwarding, video- and audio-conferencing, and even IP-based time-and-attendance tracking.
Yet this new multimedia network also brings about new complexities, according to Kerry Mann, president of Mississauga, Ontario-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Mantralogix. For instance, you must consider performance. Before you add voice to your data network, experts advise that you conduct a stringent network assessment to determine your needs for greater bandwidth.
The new breed of network devices
The network of the future is moving forward on multiple technology fronts—for example, Gigabit Ethernet (1000 megabits per second) is the new standard for wired networks. The devices accessing the network have also changed. You now must account for handheld computers and multimedia mobile phones, which handle voice, data and—soon—video. Wireless networks keep advancing as well. You have probably absorbed all the differences between variants of the 802.11 protocol (a, b and g), but get ready for more: WiMAX for broadband multimedia-capable wireless networks, ultra-wideband (UWB) for broadband local area networks, and protocols like EV-DO and EDGE to boost data transmission on the latest mobile phones.
How to manage these devices and technologies? At all costs, avoid setting up alternate networks that do not integrate or at least link with your IP-based network. Any upgrade that forces you to extend your networking infrastructure without integration adds complexity and management headaches.
On the back end, however, no network is future-proof. To that end, vendors are developing network switches and routers that you can upgrade more easily to add functionality when and where you need it, without having to replace the entire box. "We're beginning to see network switches that have up to 16 programmable network processors," says Michael Howard, principal analyst at Campbell, California-based Infonetics Research. "[The concept is] similar to the multicore processors that Intel and AMD are making for desktops. They are flexible, and basically ready to accommodate whatever you throw at them." Of course, these are the kind of devices that you pay more for today, because they give you more flexibility tomorrow.
A few best practices for integrated network management
When local area networks (LANs) first became popular in the late 1980s, one of the ongoing challenges for IT was management: Making sure the LANs were functioning properly and that problems were visible from a single monitoring station was not always possible, given disparate networks and even disparate networking technologies, such as Token-Ring and Ethernet. In deploying future networking technologies, you want to avoid this bifurcation whenever possible, for several reasons:
Staffing. When the phone networks and data networks were separate, you needed two kinds of monitoring and two different staffs to support them. That should not be necessary with convergence, so avoid the redundancy if you can.
Security. A greater number of devices and more options for accessing networks mean more ways (both via device and network) that hackers can try to enter your network. You need a single system to allow your IT staff to quickly identify security breaches.
Monitoring. Similarly, you want to know when network devices are performing properly, and when their traffic statistics reveal that you should add devices or change the network configuration. A single monitoring system gives you an integrated view of all your devices so that you can understand how they are interacting with each other.
Overall, this onslaught of new networking capabilities should be more of a blessing than a curse. As long as you commit to deploying technologies that run on an IP-based network, your IT staff can more easily accommodate the kinds of mobile and computing devices that your business units request for better productivity. It may look more complex to manage, but it will actually be easier.
Howard Baldwin writes frequently on networking and VoIP for Cisco Systems' iQ magazine, and thinks unified messaging is the coolest technology of the 21st century.
