Johannesburg, 14 Mar 2017
The increase in mobility, the use of voice and video, combined with virtualisation technologies, and the doubling of data every two years, are important reasons why small-to-medium sized businesses (SMEs) should invest in 10-Gigabit connectivity.
This is according to Richard Jonker, Vice-President, SMB Product Line Management at Netgear, the global networking equipment manufacturer. He says delays in decision-making related to 10Gb adoption may well expose network managers to 'business-busting bottlenecks' in the near future.
Jonker maintains that, globally, the 10Gb revolution is well under way, driven by burgeoning bandwidth demands in the wake of the bring your own device (BYOD) movement and the advent of the Internet of things (IOT), both of which have resulted in increasing numbers of devices being linked to corporate networks.
"Current data growth vectors associated with these devices mean that more bandwidth is required by most businesses," he notes. "As data increases, the network and the Internet are getting used more often and for longer. Consequently, more data streaming occurs - with increased file sizes."
Jonker says these drivers, together with a host of others (see below), have already persuaded a third of all SME networks worldwide to adopt 10Gb Ethernet switching, with many more committed to deploying 10GbE in the near future.
Tobie van Schalkwyk, Business Development Manager at Duxbury Networking - the South African Netgear distributor - agrees with the need for SMEs to move swiftly towards the adoption of 10GbE technology and encourages South African organisations to do so "now that the 10GbE landscape has changed".
Up to now, he says, 10GbE connectivity often involved costly fibre-based technology as the principal way to support high-speed access to the network backbone as well as virtualised server, storage and data centre environments. It was the preserve of larger enterprises.
"Today, technology advances resulting in more affordable 10Gb copper (10GBASE-T) solutions have prompted a growing acceptance of 10GbE - particularly in the cost-conscious SME sector. Importantly, the advances have also boosted network performance by addressing copper's latency constraints and previous power consumption disadvantages compared to 'optics'."
In this light, he maintains the time is right - particularly from a strategic perspective - for SMEs to take advantage of 10GbE switching solutions to support their evolving high-speed networking requirements.
Van Schalkwyk adds that Netgear is one of the first networking providers to deliver 10GBASE-T switching solutions spanning Web managed, smart managed and fully managed categories.
"Netgear's 10GbE copper switches are able to leverage existing investments in Category 5e copper cabling - and above - to provide work-group aggregation, network backbone and top-of-rack deployment capabilities, as well as cost-effective support for virtualised environments."
For company decision-makers yet to consider the viability of 10GbE, Netgear's Jonker has a list of 10 reasons why they should do so with minimal delay.
1) The BYOD movement and the IOT: Employees are bringing increasing numbers of personal devices, such as tablets and smartphones, which require WiFi access. Businesses are also more often using smart devices like door locks, thermostats, badge machines that are Internet connected. This drives increased bandwidth, which 10GbE provides.
2) Data is continuously increasing in size: Data requirements are doubling every two years. This data growth means that more bandwidth is required by almost all businesses. As data increases, the network and the Internet are getting used more often and for longer. Consequently, more data streaming occurs - with increased file sizes.
3) High-definition (HD) streaming: There is more data now on video while businesses are frequently using HD and 4K resolutions.
4) Existing congestion: For companies whose staff complement is growing, the number of network users will be increasing too. These organisations will find moving to 10Gb speeds the best way to avoid user congestion and bottlenecks.
5) Faster WiFi standards are deployed: Higher WiFi speeds, from new generations of wireless technology, such as Wave2 AC WiFi, require more than 1Gb bandwidth (ie, one Gigabit Ethernet port) per access point for acceptable coverage and speed.
6) Rack saving space: If the networking rack is becoming crowded, it's only logical to replace 1Gb switches with a 10Gb switch. This will save space while adding connectivity. This is particularly important if rack space is rented in a wiring closet or local data centre.
7) Expansion: Globally, one in three SMEs are said to be migrating to 10Gb switching solutions to accommodate an expansion into new premises.
8) Virtualisation and hyper-convergence: Server virtualisation relies heavily on both networking and storage. Virtual machines grow and require larger amounts of storage than one physical server can provide. Network attached storage or storage area networks provide additional, dedicated storage for virtual machines. Connectivity between servers and storage must be fast to avoid bottlenecks. 10GbE provides the fastest interconnectivity for virtualised environments. The same goes for object storage, storage virtualisation and big data applications in the SME space.
9) Flash-based storage: The higher speed in flash memory-based data storage requires a higher speed network.
10) Pro-AV applications: As the audio visual industry inevitably transitions to AV-over-IP solutions, more bandwidth will be required for uncompressed, zero latency 4K transmission with new SDVoE Alliance applications. HDMI 2.0 over commercial Cat7 cabling requires 10GbE switches with significant multicast intelligence.
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