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F E A T U R E

2003 Survivor's Guide to Infrastructure

December 15, 2002
By Peter Morrissey

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If you haven't caved in already, expect to find lots of pressure from vendors telling you to connect your desktops at 1 gigabit. They are looking for another purchasing cycle and they'll mention enticing selling points like Dell is shipping some of its PCs with gigabit cards. They might even tell you that their mothers have 1 gigabit to the desktop. Don't listen. The fact is that most applications will do fine with 10-Mbps connections. Think about it--many of these applications are designed to run well for telecommuters and road warriors who have a few megabits per second in bandwidth available to them at best. The bandwidth available to wireless networks can be even lower. There will always be the exceptions, but if you're not running collaboration software or editing digital movies, the ROI (return on investment) for desktop gigabit is questionable at best.

Prices are coming down fast for wiring-closet switches, however, so if you are upgrading anyway, can get a low enough price per port and have good quality Category 5 or Cat5e, go for it. Upgrading now could save you the cost of doing it later. Expect cable vendors to push the Cat6 wiring solutions that were approved by the EIA/TIA in June of 2002.

If you are upgrading cabling or working on new construction, consider putting in the absolute latest standard but otherwise, you shouldn't even be thinking about it. Currently, there are no electronics even in the planning stages that can take advantage of the higher bandwidth capabilities of Cat6 and it will cost a lot more to install. Additionally Cat7 is on the drawing board and will involve lots of shielding and even greater corresponding costs. You may hear some rumblings about Cat8 as well, but that's designed for residential wiring.

Power to the Closet: UPS 802.3af

As VoIP and wireless LANs increase in popularity, the benefits linked to powering these devices over the Ethernet cable (from the switch in the closet) also increases. Switches that provide power via each Ethernet port provide the flexibility to locate the AP (access point) where you need it without worrying about power requirements.

With VoIP, you can have an IP phone without having to mess with power adapters. An even bigger advantage is that you can provide battery backup for all the devices from a more central location like a wiring closet. Just plan on investing in UPSs to get the full benefit.

The IEEE 802.3af standard, which defines power over Ethernet, should be approved some time in the spring of 2003. Make sure you don't invest in any switching equipment that supplies power over Ethernet unless the vendor gives you something in writing that guarantees a full replacement if it isn't interoperable with the upcoming standard. You should also be watching for a new MIB from the IETF that will provide a standardized way of monitoring power status using SNMP management software. If you're thinking about VoIP, you should consider putting in 802.3af-capable switches.

Routers

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Carriers

As your carrier contracts expire, be sure to include language in the next round of negotiations that gives you wiggle room should the vendor come on hard times. You also want to invest more time to establish relationships with competitors should you decide to jump ship. It's easy to become dependent on one vendor, and viewing the vendor as a partner can be mutually beneficial. This can be productive, but you need to keep your options open. The vendor will be glad to have you as a partner, as long as you are a paying customer.

Unfortunately, you aren't going to see prices go down here--carriers have proven that they can't offer dirt-cheap pricing and remain financially viable. The one bright spot here is that as regional carriers enter the long distance market, there will be more competition there, which will drive down prices.

A stable, dependable infrastructure is vital to the success of any organization. Fight for the resources you need to keep it that way. And remember that you depend on all your vendors for your own success and survival. Make sure they can deliver, and keep your options open.

Peter Morrissey is a full-time faculty member of Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, and a contributing editor and columnist for Network Computing. Write to him at ppmorris@syr.edu.