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IT Is Woefully Behind Network Updates: Page 2 of 2

The focus on software features and APIs in network equipment means a renewed emphasis on network maintenance that is severely lacking today. Network automation, adaptation and virtualization are increasingly focused around the software features of network equipment. The days of "speeds and feeds" have given way to the API. It is funny, I hear so much talk about APIs from network vendors that I am waiting for someone to tell me about the "Virtual, open-source, multi-port network appliance." It is
Jeremy Littlejohn
August 31, 2010

HP and other vendors were not immune either. While they faired much better overall, with the most popular software being from October 2008 (a total of 299 HP switches with H.10.74 code) that is still almost two years old. In most cases, code is loaded on equipment and deployed, never to be considered again. Only some significant external force such as compliance audits or security breaches move network administrators to upgrade their equipment code.

Much of this has been the fault of vendors. There has never been an easy way to upgrade network equipment without an outage. This is improving as SAN redundancy and reliability demands are coming to the LAN and vendors are implementing online upgrades. However, you can't always blame the vendors. IT departments have been slacking when it comes to a formal plan to upgrade network equipment on a regular basis. It simply must be part of the ecosystem of your network. Imagine a server that went three years without an upgrade.
 
As we put more emphasis on the APIs and features that the network can provide, a plan to manage the software that drives those devices is a must have if you are going to be successful.
 

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