Perry Laberis

Driven by data center consolidation, server virtualization, and increased use of web applications, data centers and their networks are scaling at an unprecedented rate. The rate of scale has challenged network administrators working with legacy networks and processes to keep pace. Software-defined networking (SDN)-such as the OpenFlow protocol-which centralizes the controller, opens, and utilizes software to program the network, offers a promising solution.

Consumerization of IT and corporate adoption of various application- and desktop-delivery models create complexity and manageability issues for IT professionals. As a result, organizations seek a consolidated platform for mixed applications that aggregates hybrid delivery environments and centralizes services. Centrix WorkSpace offers unified delivery of applications, desktops, and content to end-users and provides analytics for improved provisioning and management of resources.

Ensuring the performance of browsing and buying is paramount for this online purveyor of millions of home furnishings. Leveraging rapid technology and engineering development as a means to create a competitive advantage, the Wayfair.com team had to find a better way to guarantee performance. Choosing BMC APM to deliver proactive management allowed Wayfair.com to optimize its development efforts.

The Movement Toward Integrated Computing: The Foundations for Cloud

The idea that virtualization technologies are revolutionizing the market is no longer novel. Though the conversation has shifted toward cloud computing, server virtualization remains the foundation. Driven by numerous benefits including lower capital and operational costs, greater IT efficiency and agility, and improved application performance, server virtualization is being deployed rapidly and near-universally by large midmarket and enterprise organizations. These benefits, realized by neophyte adopters, are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg; organizations with more extensive deployments have realized improvements in application provisioning, automation of IT tasks, application availability, disaster recovery, business continuity, and application development.

Recent ESG research indicates that the remote worker population will grow significantly over the next three years. Why? Organizations see ROI on remote worker programs in terms of cost reduction, higher employee morale, and improved productivity. While these are attractive benefits, ESG believes that today’s laissez-faire remote worker programs have plenty of room for improvement from both a business and technology perspective.

Cisco recently unveiled its next-generation Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) solutions, delivering a significant upgrade over its previous versions. The improvements address the demand for a WAN solution capable of scaling to deliver web-based software applications and rich media content across networks with improved performance. In order to realize market traction, Cisco will need to drive awareness of WAAS's new capabilities to its customers and educate its sales and channel partners on the improvements.

New enterprise initiatives and applications are driving new requirements for WAN optimization technologies. Riverbed has responded to those needs by delivering enhancements to the seventh version of the Riverbed Optimization System. It now adds expanded support for video and VDI environments, UDP, and IPv6 , in addition to integrated network management and satellite capabilities.

Driven by data center consolidation, server virtualization, and network convergence, data center networking technology is in the midst of a profound transition.  As part of this evolution, IT professionals can expect to hear new terminology like "flat networks," "programmable flow," and "virtual Ethernet bridging" from networking vendors. What do these terms mean?  Are they really important or just marketing hype?  Most importantly,  how will data center networking change and in what timeframe? This ESG market landscape report answers these and many other questions.  The report is intended to provide a clear roadmap for IT professionals so they can plan appropriately for data center networking technology innovation and capitalize on its use.

NetApp recently unveiled its new storage management software family, OnCommand, incorporating newly acquired Akorri technology. Aimed at accelerating enterprise adoption of the private cloud and dynamic data centers, the solutions simplify management through service catalogs, automation capabilities, and end-to-end visibility and performance monitoring. In order to realize maximum traction for the OnCommand family, NetApp will need to effectively demonstrate how these technologies are integrated to solve management problems.