In spite of the perceived bandwidth limitations of Gb, IP-based storage has proven itself as a flexible and reliable storage platform, and the adoption of 10 GbE should silence--or at least turn the volume down--on critics of Ethernet as a storage fabric.
Blades--Sharper Than Ever
Power, cooling and management simplification will continue to be the key issues in most data centers, and blade systems may be just what the doctor ordered for companies looking to streamline their server environment. In our Dec. 7 review of blade servers (see "Data Center Diet Plan," at nwc. com/channels/storageandservers/show Article.jhtml?articleID=196513821), we found that vendors have paid keen attention to the needs of IT managers, and the newest generation of blades combine the performance of multiple, dual-core processors with energy efficiency.
The current blade systems from Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems we reviewed offered a whole new dimension of processor density and I/O throughput. With chassis midplane bandwidth that ranged from 5.0 Tbps to 9.7 Tbps and usable, blade-level connectivity of up to 160 Gbps, these systems bring a whole new level of performance to the blade market. This new focus on bandwidth between the blade and the backplane should provide improved investment protection by ensuring sufficient room for growth as more powerful blades and faster connectivity options become available.
Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for Juniper Networks, explains how the advanced technology is transforming operations.
Contact center leaders from 8x8, Awaken Intelligence, and 360insight discuss the importance of agent experience.
AI may force enterprises to rewire parts of their data centers so they are fully optimized to run such workloads. The question is do you use Ethernet or InfiniBand?
