|
Top Networking Technologies for 2004 - Part
2 |
 |
|
Mon Jan 19, 4:51 PM ET |
|
Mark Long, www.newsfactor.com
In Part 1 of this two-part series, NewsFactor took a look at five emerging networking- technology trends: the move to place wireless behind the corporate firewall; growing interest in scalable 'pay-as-you-grow' servers; increasing popularity of very dense 'server blades'; the use of global assessment services to keep networks performing smoothly; and a dramatic rise in demand for speech-based servers.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Part 2 adds five up-and-coming networking trends to the list, ranging from the rise of IP telephony to adoption of real-time network backups. Voice over IP (VoIP) already is beginning to radiate into the environs of the wireless world, even as I-SCSI LAN storage technology moves onto an increasing number of networks.
"Another market realization is that telephony is not just for voice anymore," observed Avaya's (NYSE: AV - news) convergence strategist Lawrence Byrd. "The advantage of moving to an IP Telephony model is that video and data can be seamlessly added to networks as productivity enhancers," he told NewsFactor. "The eventual goal is to render videoconferencing as simple to implement as dialing up a phone call."
All of these trends are poised to make major marketplace waves during 2004.
The IP Telephony Push
"Businesses are increasingly seeing the benefits of having a single network [as well as the] business benefits of the collaborative enterprise," notes Byrd. "The question is, 'How do we bring workers together so they can work faster and more closely?'"
One answer is to deploy a more sophisticated signal-processing approach that requires the use of special IP phones that plug right into a network, as opposed to a phone jack.
With VoIP, the line from a traditional telephone handset plugs directly into a router, which handles all the voice-signal translation into IP packets. At the other end of the circuit, the IP packets are retranslated into voice waves that are routed to the receiving standard telephone handset.
In contrast, IP telephony voice conversion takes place right inside the Ethernet-enabled IP phone. Just like a desktop computer, the IP phone gets an IP address when it becomes active on the local area network, which means that each IP phone has direct access to the PBX, as well as all of the network's office switches.
The driving factor behind most recent IP telephony deployments has been the cost-savings that can be achieved. SouthTrust Bank in Birmingham, Alabama, says it saved US$5 million by installing a new virtual Enterprise IP PBX in tandem with more than 10,000 Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO - news) IP Phones, according to Marthin De Beer, vice president and general manager of the enterprise voice and video business unit at Cisco.
Voice over IP
But VoIP is not just a way of transmitting phone calls on the cheap, says De Beer.
"It is, and will be, a component of a range of broadband applications that will combine voice, data and other communications media to provide users with new, innovative and compelling communications choices," De Beer told NewsFactor. "As the technology grows, it will grow not as a cheaper telephone service," but rather because it "will integrate other non-voice applications as part of a richer set of communications vehicles."
VoIP will fundamentally change the economics of providing voice services to the consumer, De Beer believes, as well as alter the fundamental economics upon which telephone companies are based. The technology will "increase competition in the consumer voice-services market via third-party access to provide voice services in addition to cable and other entry media into the home," he predicts.
Expanding Wireless Options
Another realization that is taking form is that VoIP and IP telephony are not restricted to networking in the wired world. When VoIP is paired with Wi-Fi, the combination can provide 802.11-ready PDA and notebook users the option of placing their phone calls wirelessly.
Two products are currently available from Avaya "that allow you to walk around your office with a remote office phone in your hand," said Byrd, who notes that the 802.11-enabled devices "are typically being deployed by specialized industries."
New end-user videoconferencing applications also are beginning to appear with their video screens integrated with MS Outlook and with the session initiation protocol (SIP) as an underlying layer. The converged approach also makes use of instant messaging capabilities.
IP telephony providers ultimately intend to make videoconferencing as simple to implement as a phone call. But to make this happen, a new level of end-user applications will be required, including "the encryption of IP media streams, the addition of signaling encryption between servers and gateways, and the use of more authentication protocols," says Byrd.
Real-Time Network Backups
"One of the leading problems we hear about is the loss of data through hard-disk failure or data corruption," said Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news) Communications Group vice president Tim Dunn. "Having real-time network backup running in the background gives the best possible level of data integrity for the large businesses that need it," he told NewsFactor.
Real-time system back up adds a lot of additional traffic on networks. However, Dunn says there are new approaches that deal with this issue.
"That's where technologies like Gigabit Ethernet come in," advises Dunn, "because if you have this fat pipe, then you can do all these things without impacting the level of service."
Dunn also notes that Pentium 4 hyperthreading allows multiple runs at the same time.
Storage over the LAN
"SANs are expensive and typically fairly complex in terms of making sure you have an interoperable environment," notes Dunn. I-SCSI technology, however, gives network operators the ability "to manage everything in a single environment and allows you to deploy in areas that you never considered in the past."
I-SCSI uses Ethernet connectivity to enable storage over the LAN in a very affordable, efficient manner. The new technology ultimately will be built right into networks, Dunn foresees.
The initial gear is available right now and even can be tailored to a number of different various performance ranges.
"For example, if you want to create a departmental storage system, you can set up a central server or storage array loaded with I-SCSI adapters that will allow you to offload the SCSI processing," said Dunn. "On the client stations, you can load the client software and use the host processing capabilities, and that will allow you to create a storage system where you could centralize all of your critical data," he added.
All great truths begin as blasphemies. - George Bernard Shaw
_______________________________________________ Sndbox mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://a8.mewebdns-a8.com/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
