Key technology trends for 2008

Here are the five leading technology trends for 2008, according to 3Com.

Open source network services

The world is warming up to emerging enterprise-class applications like OpenOffice and open standard operating systems like gOS (The new Google operating system based on Ubuntu). More users and enterprises are now focusing on the function and quality of the applications and services. Their adoption is trending toward software that can provide the same high-level of IT service for the lowest cost in terms of deployment and support.

Where network services like security, voice, video and management functions are concerned, the same trend is emerging. Today, enterprise users can deploy enterprise class open source network services on servers to throttle bandwidth and provide denial of service mitigation, for example. And just like the industry saw commercial firewall and VPN software move into appliances and then to the network switch fabric, the same is happening for open source network services as well.

The reason why network services are moving into switch fabric is because server-based services running on operating systems often lack performance and dedicated appliances that offer high performance eventually start stacking up (physically), creating an appliance glut that is tough to manage.

One way in which enterprises can integrate open source network services in the switch and router fabric is by using 3Com’s Open Services Networking (OSN) platform. OSN provides network managers with a blank piece of paper to design and deploy open source solutions that suite their budget needs, but at the same time provide an open platform to integrate advanced and emerging network services that they need in the future.

Besides allowing the user, as opposed to the vendor, to choose what services to integrate into the network, the OSN architecture also functions as a services layer that works across multi-vendor network equipment. This creates a flexible network services overlay that does not lock enterprises down to a particular vendor when they want to add applications over the plumbing.

IP surveillance

One of the most exciting new applications that benefit from running on IP-based networks is IP video surveillance. Today's video surveillance over IP solutions offer significant performance, cost and functionality improvements over older analog CATV systems and these IP video solutions are now taking center stage due to the current global security climate.

Analog systems can no longer meet the new requirement of monitoring hundreds of locations across cities, storing the data for extended periods and being able to apply intelligent video image searches to detect suspicious activity, or do forensic analysis.

Multi-terabyte storage and bandwidth are not longer cost-prohibitive and this is driving the large-scale deployment of IP surveillance networks. For example, locations in China are already using our low cost Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPON) to monitor long stretches of highway in order to keep the roads safer for motorists. The monitoring is integrated into the EPON IP-based network and our storage systems and surveillance applications.

With added features like pan-tilt-zoom cameras and motion sensors and simple innovations like making one camera monitor multiple locations by aiming at, say, three places at regular intervals, the cost of security surveillance can be managed.

IP storage

Besides IP video surveillance, technologies like SOA, grids, utility and On Demand computing are increasing the need for storage. The concept of tape backup is slowly fading as optical storage solutions like DVDs can already store several Gigabytes of data that can be read instantly without having to wind through a tape.

And rather than just thinking about backup, storage today is about being able to access historical data at any time in order to analyze it and draw business or forensic trends from it. While applications like Web, email, online transaction processing, decision support systems, filing and regulatory compliance are important drivers of storage demand, the main driver for large volume storage will be video.

As a case in point, we’re a networking company and does not create storage solutions as a dedicated business, but because our IP video surveillance solutions require high volume online storage to be tightly integrated. In addition, we developed the solutions because none existed that would meet the challenge and this is apparent from the 40 patents on IP storage that we have applied and the on going average of five new patent applications filed every month.

Interestingly, designing solutions to meet specific needs has proven right for us as the company has taken 51.9% market share in the iSCSI SAN storage network market in China, according to the IDC 2006 Q4 report on China’s Disk Storage Market. This size of the China pie makes us as one of the top storage vendors in the Asia Pacific Region.

Other industry trends that will ride on this high availability and high volume storage include business intelligence and, in particular, the need to keep unstructured data like Word documents, presentations and email online so that the information can be mined.

High speed broadband networks will also start to link up branch offices in real-time, increasing the need to centralize large volumes of storage that are used by remote offices as though they are local resources.

Another trend is in supporting multiple storage protocols. For example, we do not restrict the definition of IP storage to iSCSI, or NAS technology, nor does it favor any one protocol. Tomorrow’s storage managers must be able to seamlessly integrate storage into the IP network as a solution designed to provide storage resources and data management services.

This must be IP-based and integrated with emerging technologies such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, grid computing, virtualization, replication and mirroring, continuous data protection, and storage WANs.

Unified Communications

In 2008, research firm AMI-Partners predicts that the debut of unified communications appliances that integrate triple play convergence plus security and mobility for the SMB segment. While VoIP is indeed a disruptive technology, the important trend to note is that the industry focus is now on unified communications that VoIP is enabling.

Customers will move beyond using VoIP to save cost toward enabling new services that change how employees collaborate and communicate. Therefore, internal IT departments and external service providers need to think about how to create a partner and technology ecosystem that can offer a dynamic range of services. 

This is where the value of open network service architectures like 3Com Open Services Networking or OSN becomes apparent as it allows enterprises and service providers to creatively mix and match open source-based unified communications solutions into the network. Besides, low cost platforms like OSN applied to unified communications also offer the flexibility to change, upgrade and add services as the need arises.

One challenge that has emerged due to unified communications is how it will impact existing data applications running on the network. Again this is where an open services layer can allow network managers to integrate bandwidth control, monitoring and application prioritization solutions.

Metro Ethernet and EPON

Nation-wide broadband networks are sprouting up all over Asia with the general goal of driving fiber to every end point and enabling Gigabit speeds. For example, the Singapore is planning to have an island-wide Gigabit network by 2012. In most cases, a mix of two main technologies will enable these deployments, namely Metro Ethernet and Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON).

One example of a Metro Ethernet deployment is Paneagle Communications Sdn Bhd (Paneagle), an ISP in Malaysia that has recently participated in the country's first nationwide Metro Ethernet project. Built on an extensive fiber optic cable infrastructure along the railway and gas corridors, the network stretches from north to south of the Malay Peninsula and passes through almost all major Malaysian towns. Paneagle’s Metro Ethernet network uses our 10Gigabit Ethernet switches and is designed to support data, voice and video communications as well as security features like VPN for business users.

Like Metro Ethernet, EPON is based on IP and Ethernet protocols. With this cost-effective and efficient structure, EPON is the most effective way to connect the end users to the access networks based on Metro Ethernet. The emergence of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbones and the Metro Ethernet core networks also makes EPON the optimal last-mile solution of the future all-optical networks.

As an example of best practice use of EPON, it is used to link IP video cameras over long distances on highways in China for jams and accidents. EPON networks fully utilize or lease the existing IP metro network with no additional deployment cost. Further, EPON features standard, open architecture, intelligent management, is applicable to large scale, high density applications like video. Best of all, EPON can be managed like a standard IP network.

The author is Country Manager, India & SAARC, 3Com