Network Transformation

Special vs Custom vs Standard? Choosing the Building Blocks-12

Continuing from last week. Let us discuss what will happen when these new open 100G and 400G solutions will hit the market in next 12-18 months.

But before we think of the transformation, let us acknowledge two facts from research by Gartner:-

  1. 91% of today’s data is created and processed within the data centers
  2. by 2022, 75% of all the data will need analysis and action at the Edge

And I believe that majority of this data will be in the concentrated portions of our geographies called cities/metros. What does this mean?

  1. Hyper Scale data centers will not be enough
  2. Edge Data centers will evolve
  3. Managing and connecting these edge data centers will be the main concern.

I believe that the Webscale organizations, know about this and may be on the path to solve this, they may implement:

  1. Distributed data centers
  2. Small, but connected
  3. Use Leaf-Spine architecture to connect the edge data centers into a large virtual data center
  4. Use the new 100G and 400G plugs to extend the Leaf-Spine in the metro/city space

That way they can seamlessly transform from hyper-scale to hyper-distributed-scale. I am keen to see this transformation take place.

I see many new partnerships being announced, AT&T and Microsoft, A&T and IBM, Reliance Jio and Microsoft etc., apart from announcements from operators like CenturyLink. Next week, we will evaluate the role of operators in this transition / transformation.

Stay tuned for more next week.

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