Preparing the enterprise network

Today, more and more companies are implementing voice, video and data over a single network to simplify and streamline their communication systems. Converged, or multi-service, networks are widely used to support business environments where users are seeking to gain a competitive edge by implementing advanced applications, new services and enhanced ways of collaborating.

To fully realise the benefits of a multi-service network, enterprises need to evaluate and align their business needs with their current and future communication system and reliability requirements.

Until recently, enterprise companies invested in multiple communication infrastructures and operated separate telephone, data, video and video conferencing networks. As applications have become more dynamic, companies are discovering their existing data networks are not ready for convergence. This is primarily because most Layer 2 switches do not include end-to-end traffic prioritisation capabilities and cannot handle the additional network demands of next-generation applications. In effect, many of today's enterprise networks do not efficiently provide bandwidth optimisation throughout the network grid.

Customers need solutions that offer standards-based traffic prioritisation to provide traffic type coexistence and quality of service (QOS) functions that virtually eliminate the need for custom network design architectures, while ensuring support for current and future voice, video and content delivery applications. Equally important, networking solutions must deliver data, voice and video connectivity over one of the industry's most cost-effective and easy-to-manage infrastructures.

With the convergence of data, voice, video and other digital technologies, the separate enterprise networks that previously hosted those data types are no longer adequate to handle today's more complex traffic. Instead, those networks have converged into a single multi-service network that must support a broad range of applications.

For example, the worldwide PBX market continues to evolve steadily toward IP-based telephony, with the biggest portion of this market made up of 'hybrid' systems, along with a simultaneous decline in traditional telephone systems.

One of the most significant current trends is an increasingly mobile, 24x7 workforce.

Lorna Hardie is ProCurve Networking business unit manager at HP South Africa.

Traditional solutions are based on one-dimensional architectures that address only one area of network design at a time, such as voice, video or data. Design rules and product features for voice, video and data were sufficient to supply QOS for these applications, but were too rigid and insufficient to address mobility or security at the same time.

These new and emerging requirements need solutions that are based on a fundamental, multi-dimensional architecture that addresses the complexity and flexibility required to handle all solution areas at the same time.

One of the most significant current trends is an increasingly mobile, 24x7 workforce. This long-term trend will continue, which in turn will increase the use of virtual meetings, video conferencing, instant messaging and other advanced collaboration techniques.

Supporting a broad range of applications will be a key element in the future of enterprise networks. VOIP applications provide such benefits as the opportunity to reduce overhead with toll bypass; future-proof the network with a relatively low investment; and add new, more powerful communication capabilities to match business requirements.

As with most technological advancements, standards are a key element of the convergence evolution. From the broad H.323 telephony standard which originally defined how voice, data and video are transmitted to IP-based local area networks, to the Internet Engineering Task Force's Session Initiation Protocol, to IEEE's 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard for IP networking equipment, much of the industry has made a significant commitment to supporting open, standards-based systems.

A multi-service network allows enterprises to rapidly deploy next-generation applications to meet business demands. Each newly deployed technology brings new traffic types that require different network responses and behaviours so the applications can work reliably.

For example, emerging multimedia applications such as IP TV, collaboration, media streaming and video conferencing depend on the ability to send the same information from one host to many, or from many hosts to many hosts. Multipoint services facilitate the delivery of content for distance learning applications, live TV video feeds to multiple systems across the network, or multipoint video conferencing.

In preparing for a converged network solution, customers must address these key considerations:

* Security: To ensure proper security for voice, video, and data transmissions, customers should add voice virtual local area network encryption that does not affect the quality of the transmission. In addition, customers should deploy security technology that adds protection and prevents denial of service attacks, which could bring down a network.
* Investment protection: Eliminating duplicate infrastructures creates cost savings and makes network upgrades easier to manage, allowing enterprises to maximise investment protection and take advantage of new applications, security, and mobility solutions more easily and effectively.
* QOS: Since voice, video and delay-sensitive data (such as financial transactions) represent real-time traffic, delay, jitter, and packet loss can adversely affect the quality of the transmission. A high-quality converged network must be properly designed, configured and managed with QOS as a critical building block. A proper quality of service methodology ensures that voice quality is maintained, video runs smoothly, and applications satisfy near real-time and other timing requirements.
* Reliability/resiliency: Customers should review the reliability of their current LAN and WAN to ensure the converged network is designed properly and there is adequate network redundancy when making the transition to a converged network.
* Standards: Interoperability brings compatibility opportunities and investment protection to customers who choose standards-based solutions. Customers should avoid being locked in by single-vendor solutions that limit their ability to address future business needs.