November 24, 2008----As the data center continues to evolve and mature, business-oriented goals are driving the adoption of Ethernet as the single network technology, according to a new Current Analysis Advisory Report, "One Love, One Data Center, One Network."
"For there to be truly agile, cost optimized, and efficient data centers, the network must be transitioned to a single technology," says the report's author, Steven Schuchart, Current Analysis principal analyst/data center. "That technology is Ethernet. There is significant opportunity to break the old networking paradigms and advocate one network technology for the data center."
According to Schuchart, the adoption of Ethernet as the one network technology is part of an overall theme, including green initiatives and virtualization, for most new data center priorities--the simplification of IT infrastructure. In the report, Schuchart looks at why Ethernet is the natural choice for a single network, including its wide deployment, and the willingness of Ethernet's vendors to work together to ensure that the technology is compatible, regardless of brand or origin.
Schuchart also examines the strengths and weaknesses of Ethernet's competition for the data center: Fibre Channel, and how it initially provided the reliable, fast communications data center storage needed, but now has lost its advantages of speed as well as price both in hardware and personnel costs; and InfiniBand, with its raw and low latency, but lacking the economies of scale needed for enterprise Data Center applications.
The report concludes with vendor and end-user recommendations.
For a complimentary copy of the full report, visit: www.currentanalysis.com/f/2008/onenetwork/