Today, Cisco is announcing the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X and 3850 10G Fiber Series for campus backbones to address new network infrastructure needs, especially in space constrained deployments.
According to the Visual Networking Index, traffic is expected to triple in the next four years. This means that many campus networks will lack the provisioned capacity to meet this expected growth in bandwidth. In fact, some network managers are telling us that this is already happening to their campus networks.
With video and bandwidth-intensive applications continuing to proliferate, traffic on campus networks is growing exponentially. This drives not only the challenge of managing the demand for growing scale in a secure and reliable fashion, but also the opportunity for IT to leverage video and robust applications to “add value to the business”. Customers and suppliers are gravitating to businesses that offer them a comprehensive view of product offerings, an instant response, and easy transactions. This also drives additional demands on the network as an enabler for the business.
Things are changing with employees as well. While many employees are provided a mobile phone, most already have at least three mobile devices including laptops, tablets and even private smart phones. Even when employees are not actively using the apps on their mobile devices, these devices can create additional background traffic (OS, App updates & backups). According to a Cisco IBSG study, there are three times more devices per person than just a few years ago. Virtually all devices connect through the employer’s network, which has to service all these devices in a secure, scalable and reliable fashion.
While devices grow in number, wireless connectivity speed is increasing. Gigabit wireless (802.11ac) enables a network that is three times faster due to its 1.3 Gbps capacity. 802.11ac Wave 2 more than doubles that. Thus, the bottleneck is moving “up the network” from wireless AP to the access uplinks. With 1G becoming the standard for access switch ports, access switch uplinks will need to move to ubiquitous 10G and 40G. Continue reading “Improve Your Network, Improve Your Business – Why it’s Time to Upgrade Your Campus Network”
Providing cost effective technological innovations is key to The Salvation Army’s mission of meeting human needs without discrimination or geographic boundaries. As an international non-profit organization the ability to deliver life changing services thru technological solutions in a timely and cost effective manner is essential.
By Joe Chow, vice president, Connected Devices Business Unit, Cisco
