Big Data is quickly becoming critical for businesses of all sizes and across all industries. With connected devices explodes and cloud computing becoming the norm for businesses and consumers alike, the amount of data that organisations have to store, analyse and understand has, and continues to, increase exponentially. And data generation isn’t about to slow down. Business data worldwide alone, across all companies, doubles every 1.2 years.
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a key driver for this data growth, and with Gartner estimating that 6.4 billion connected ‘things’ will be in use this year, we can clearly see why. The sheer volume of data produced by these connected devices will mean IT infrastructures are likely to fall well short of what businesses will require of them.
In today’s market, traditional, outdated, legacy networks are still very much at large. These networks were often first architected twenty or more years ago, meaning that they were simply never designed to cope with the new technologies such as, cloud, social, mobile and the huge volumes of data that they generate. If businesses cannot update their core infrastructure to cope with these new technologies, it’s inevitable that they’ll fall behind competitively.
A recent report from IDC has highlighted that IoT may never reach its full potential if investment in the technologies underpinning it don’t keep pace.
Furthermore, a recent survey commissioned by Brocade found that 76% of UK CIOs are concerned that their network will prevent them meeting business objectives – an alarmingly high figure considering that big data volumes are imminently going to expand.
So how can companies adapt to their infrastructure to handle big data?
The answer is The New IP. In simple terms, The New IP is a new approach to IP networking, one that’s based on programmable networks rather than traditional hardware-led solutions. The New IP is highly virtualised, open, automated, flexible and scalable and is not limited by user type.
The New IP is a new approach to IP networking
IT departments are increasingly under pressure to give their workers an agile, resilient and scalable network, one capable of delivering data and applications to any device, anywhere at any time. The New IP is critical to making this possible.
Adopting a New IP approach to data centre networks will give businesses a dedicated platform for IP storage that solves the problem of limited expansion and flexibility. The New IP will be able to offer the same performance, predictability, availability, and operational simplicity that were once achieved using older infrastructures, but applied with modern devices in mind.
This approach has been emerging over the past few years but, thanks to advances in networking, the New IP is now beginning to gain traction globally.
The New IP will be the catalyst that allows a wealth of new technologies – from Big Data IoT – to fulfil their potential as transformative tools for business.
A New IP to enable to enable smart technologies
Adopting the New IP will enable a new era of network technologies such as Software defined networking (SDN). SDN is a new model for building, managing and extending data centre networks that offers considerable technological and financial benefits.
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As a relatively young concept, it is one that in many cases has only recently been understood by networking managers. However, according to recent research by Brocade, 40% of IT departments are planning to deploy SDN within the next five years, with 30% of those likely to do so in the next three years.
The transition to the New IP will not be instantaneous
The transition to the New IP will not be instantaneous. It is likely to be an iterative process as technologies mature and organisations gradually come to terms with the changes that are required in order to future-proof their business. However, organisations that are serious about SDN and the New IP should be exploring the options now so that they can move together as the technology evolves. Taking a “let’s wait and see” approach is, in this case, unlikely to be helpful as it will mean that enterprises fall behind and opportunities are missed altogether.
It’s clear that Big Data is rapidly rising up the list of priorities for many businesses. For a company looking to harness the power of Big Data to make faster, more intelligent business decisions, having the right network infrastructure in place will be all important. Investing in The New IP now will allow IT teams to not only handle the growing data volumes of today, it will also give them the foundation they need to adapt and evolve their infrastructure in the years to come.
Marcus Jewell, Vice President Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Brocade
As Vice President Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Marcus Jewell is responsible for sales operations throughout the geography, helping Brocade expand its footprint in the EMEA market.
Jewell has more than 15 years of experience in the networking business, having started his career in technical sales at Xerox, focused on network attached solutions. He then joined MiTech Europe, where he rose through the ranks from lead generation and sales to become Managing Director of MiSpace Ltd, a managed ICT services company jointly owned by MiTech and Jewell. He joined Mitel Networks in 2003, heading up the Enterprise Sales and Services for the UK and Ireland, where he was responsible for significantly growing market share and revenue.
He graduated from Glamorgan University with a Bachelor of Engineering Honours Degree in Civil Engineering.