Data centre offerings expanding to include Ethernet?

Data centre offerings expanding to include Ethernet?

As business and consumer demand for bandwidth grows, data centre service providers are starting to consider a wider range of networking options to help cater for this.

Indeed, Ethernet usage is not the rise, while IP and MPLS is also set to grow over the course of the next two years, along with wavelength. This data has been confirmed by research conducted by Infonetics, which also noted that legacy data centre interconnection technology and SONET/SDH use is on the decline.

Sam Barnett, directing analyst for data centre and cloud at Infonetics, observed that the drive for data centres to offer new networking facilities like Fibre Channel over Ethernet is partly being motivated by a drive to “gain a piece of the cloud service revenue pie” by leveraging a captive customer base as well as increasing the services on offer.

The analyst added: “Service providers are once again in expansion mode, but unlike in the late 1990s when the bandwidth rush was on, the focus this go-around is a quest for revenue.”

Businesses and organisations that are in the processes of reviewing their networks and IT hardware might find that now is a good time to take advantage of this increased availability of new technologies. MPLS and Ethernet systems, for example, will help to speed up and increase the reliability of data delivery across networks.

In addition to the predicted changes in network technology, the research suggested that the number of medium, large and super-size data centres owned by operators providing both data centre and cloud services is set to grow over the next two years.

It also noted that virtualisation and network convergence will allow these operators to grow sustainable in order to meet demand.

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