Now, next-generation networking matters to everyone

Big data, mobility, virtualisation and increased need for speed are blurring the lines between enterprises and service providers. Now, next-generation networking is becoming a consideration for everyone, says Juniper Networks distributor SecureData.

While carrier-class networking was once the preserve of carriers, mid-sized to large enterprises are rapidly moving to virtualise, harness cloud, enable mobility and manage big data. To support these new demands, they are re-architecting the data centre and building their own carrier-class networks, says Carlo Venter, CEO of Tarsus SecureData.

Venter says: "All companies today are looking at cloud evolution in some way, be it private, public or hybrid. SME to mid-market enterprises will likely look to hybrid and public clouds, while major enterprise will likely move to hybrid and private models."

"Essentially, if you build a private cloud, you become a form of service provider," says Venter. "We are seeing enterprises around the world moving in this direction, and major enterprises such as banks and large retailers in South Africa are not far behind."

Even SMEs through to mid-market players are being forced to revisit their ability to process rapidly growing data volumes, scale rapidly, and still ensure full security and reliability, he says. "The three key challenges are scale, availability and best-in-class security.

"Availability is crucial across verticals and in all sizes of business. Where 'five-nines' uptime, defined as 99.999% uptime and only 5.26 minutes per year downtime, was once good enough, now people are aspiring to six nines availability."

Venter notes security remains of paramount importance in this evolved environment. "In this new landscape, where cloud is increasingly in use, reliability is essential, and scale is critical, next-generation security must be fully integrated and cannot be allowed to slow networks down."

Key to preparing to meet future demands on the data centre and networks will be to put in place best-of-breed, open standards solutions that support rapid change and integration with future solutions, says Venter.