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8 New Network Standards You Need To Know

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!


    Image: archerix/iStockphoto

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!

    Image: doomu/iStockphoto

  • 802.3bz

    Because WiFi technologies are becoming the primary connection method for many end devices these days, WiFi networks are being upgraded to 802.11ac speeds. The problem is, the most commonly deployed wired Ethernet WAP connection to the corporate network remains at 1 Gbps. Theoretical 802.11ac speeds far surpass that limitation. The end result is a bottleneck on the network. Because of this, two industry initiatives formed to begin the groundwork for developing wired Ethernet that can operate at 2.5 and 5 Gbps. The goal is to make the adoption of 11ac economical by enabling reuse of the Cat5e cabling that traditional 1/100/1000 Ethernet utilizes. That way, you won’t have to replace your physical cable plant. This effort has shifted over to the IEEE; look for 802.3bz to be standardized in September 2016.

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!

    Image: geralt/Pixabay

  • NB-LTE for cellular-connected IoT

    The majority of first-generation IoT devices will likely send/receive infrequent, low-bandwidth transmissions. Because of this, it makes little sense to deploy them onto 4G LTE networks that were designed with high-speed connectivity in mind. Narrowband LTE (NB-LTE) is expected to address this concern. NB-LTE is specifically designed to connect high concentrations of devices per cell at a reduced bandwidth rate and with reduced power requirements.  While there are competing standards out there, big-name vendors including Intel, Qualcomm and Nokia are already backing the NB-LTE protocol.

  • 25 Gigabit Ethernet

    We already have 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet in the data center, so why do we need the new 25 Gigabit Ethernet standard? It really comes down to cost. While upgrading a data center to  40 GbE capable switches sounds great, it’s much too expensive for many situations. Because of that, data centers have chugged along using the next fastest alternative -- 10 GbE. While these speeds have worked in the past, 10 GbE is falling short in many blade server farms that are designed with top-of-rack (ToR) switching architectures. What ends up happening is that administrators are forced to combine multiple 10 Gbps links to prevent bottlenecks from the server to the ToR switches, again adding to the overall cost. 25 GbE will fill the gap and should cost about the same as 10 GbE technology.

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!

    Image: FactoryTh/iStockphoto

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!

    Image: Piotr Adamowicz/iStockphoto

  • A fantastic way to project where the future of enterprise networking is headed is to monitor new standards that impact network hardware and software either directly or indirectly. For example, while changes to the 802.11 WiFi standard directly impact networking, new encryption standards and compression codecs have an indirect impact.

    Image: Devonyu/iStockphoto

    It’s important to note how standards get started, and why they’re necessary. For the most part, a new network or protocol standard comes about for one of two reasons. Either there is a new technology trend or an evolution in a preexisting technology that requires updates to an existing standard. IoT can be considered a new IT movement that is causing us to create new network standards that can handle the capacity and low-bandwidth communications of such devices. On the other hand, newly proposed WiFi standards are typically created to tear down limitations found in previous standards. Either way, standards are necessary so networking vendors can create hardware and software that are compatible with one another.

    On the following pages, we’ll take a look at eight up-and- coming network standards that will break through current  limitations. We'll examine networking standards at the edge, in the data center, and even out to the cellular and broadband carrier level. Each one can have a significant impact on how you handle networking projects in 2016 and beyond.

    Which standards do you think will have the biggest impact for you in the near future? Let us know in the comments section.

    Learn about technologies and vendors critical to the Future of Networking at a two-day summit presented by Packet Pushers at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now!