Network Cabling for the Future

Organizations are now looking at future proofing their IT investments by considering 10 gigabit networks, intelligent cabling, and converged voice and data networks

Friday, February 01, 2008

More users, better response times over networks, and new applications-these are the realities before any organization today. Many verticals-BPO, healthcare, banking, manufacturing, education, government-are facing the same issues with their networks. Bottlenecks and legacy networks that are not geared to take on the new business scenarios are forcing organizations to move to faster networks and cabling technologies. So while we love the freedom that comes with wireless networks, it's still the wired network that acts as the backbone delivering the speed and QoS an organization needs today.

10Gbps came in a few years ago, and for a while seemed to be geared for wide area networks and metropolitan area networks, and seemed to be purely a fiber-optic option. But that has now changed and 10 Gigabit (10G) Ethernet on copper is becoming common. And this is the route most organizations are currently taking to keep themselves future proofed for a while. To support these speeds, CAT6 cabling is being used currently, but CAT7 has already made an appearance.

Let's a take a look and see what is in store for the network's building blocks.

The move to 10G
The 10G network may not be on every CIO's shopping list for now. “Do we really need that performance?,” they wonder. But the way their businesses are evolving, they have to deal with increased bandwidth needs and addition of more users on the network. As new applications geared to manage the business requirements make their way into organizations, there is no running away from the fact that one gig can handle the loads and speeds for now, but for how long is a question they have to work at.

This is why you can see several academic institutions across the country moving to the 10G backbone. They have to deal with increased number of students and elearning services. Many of them intend to make video conferencing lessons from across the world a regular part of their curriculum. Similarly businesses banking on data centers also are making the move to 10G. Some enterprises are experimenting with 10Gbps Ethernet through pilot programs or deployment in production environments. Here are some of the reasons for 10G's uptake:

• Organizations today need faster speeds and higher uptime.
• Larger volumes of data require faster transfer rates.
• Bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming video, VoIP, etc, that run in real-time, need lots of bandwidth to work properly.
• The greater the number of users on the network, the more bandwidth you need.
• Organizations that run desktops and servers at one gig will need high-speed switches at their data centers to manage the traffic.
• Increasing storage requirements and new technologies that make storage simpler for an enterprise mean that the network response has to be fast.

Tech behind 10G
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which is used to conceptually devise how a network operated, specifies that Ethernet works at layers 1 and 2, which are the physical and data link layers, respectively. Ethernet's specs are defined by IEEE 802.3, while the 10G standard comes under 802.3ae. So 10G is really an extension to Ethernet, as it follows the same MAC protocol, frame sizes and formats. But as 10G is a full-duplex only standard, it does not need the Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol common to other Ethernet specifications. As 10G is fairly new, standards are still being formed and gaining acceptance. Many standards have been proposed, and it is yet to see which ones will finally gain acceptance in the market.

The first implementations of 10Gbps were on fiber-optic cabling. But fiber is still relatively expensive and hard to work with, and is typically used for connections across a campus. A multimode fiber deployment works for distances upto 300 m, while taking the single mode fiber route can extend coverage to upto 40 kms. Fiber has many standards doing the rounds, both for LAN as well as MAN. Products on these standards are already available and prices have also been dropping. The biggest advantage of going 10G on fiber is that there is no interference and that the medium is future proof. It remains unaffected by EMI (electro-magnetic interference) and RFI (radio frequency interference) effects.

10G on copper meanwhile has three main standards. The 10GBASE-T is the spec for delivering 10Gbps over twisted-pair cables for distances upto 100m. 10GBASE-Kx is a set of two standards defining blade servers and other backplane applications. The 10GBASE-CX4 standard is limited in range-upto 15 meters, and transmits over four channels in each direction.
Enterprises need to select a suitable infrastructure today so that they can respond to business situations quickly and in a cost-effective manner. The cost of moving from Gigabit to 10 Gbps is about two to three times more. But the gain in performance, reduction in bottlenecks all point to advantages that far outweigh the cost aspect. The cost is expected to decrease as well.

Managed structured cabling
Many organizations today want service providers to deploy and manage their network solutions. This is being looked at to reduce costs and improve reliability of the network pieces. Organizations have multi-location offices and large campus areas. Add to that mergers and acquisitions, which bring in more locations and users into the fold. So the need for managing network resources in a proper manner has gained much greater significance than before.

Managed structured cabling is a real-time Layer-1 management system for networks. It is also known as intelligent cabling solutions. As data centers and networks grow in complexity, organizations need such a setup to manage their connectivity. The system consists of an end-to-end structured cabling system. It has intelligent patch panels and software agents. These give a comprehensive view of physical layer connectivity and also connect it to logical layers. The system also collects real-time information to automatically maintain database connectivity. It presents data in a compressed format and allows administrators to troubleshoot and document the network efficiently. With intelligent cabling, it is possible to immediately trace broken links and fix them, increasing efficiency tremendously.

Intelligent cabling can reduce the cost of network ownership. It increases the network management efficiency and network security considerably. It solves issues like unplanned downtime, inefficient manual moves, additions and changes, redundant ports, inaccurate records, etc.

Structured cabling for convergence
The market for networking solutions is growing rapidly, primarily due to the convergence of voice, data and video. Existing LAN cabling systems are becoming inefficient in no time. Along with this, security concerns are also rising, and networking equipment with security features is in demand. Unprecedented security threats in an IP infrastructure are forcing corporates to opt for feature-rich networking equipment.

The concept of a single structured cabling system that can take care of all of a building's communications needs is now well accepted. Today, IT technologies are beginning to align to support a converged network. Now taking power through the same cabling setup is gaining ground with PoE (Power over Ethernet). Various standards are also being put in place to make this happen.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), access control and other building automation systems (BAS) applications will eventually reside on an Ethernet-based network. Multiservice IP VPN, IP communications, all are apps that are finding their way into enterprises.

With so many applications converging into the same pipe, structured cabling is now becoming a critical aspect for the IT infrastructure. Though it may just add up to 5% of the total network spend, it can account for more than 20% of the downtime.

Structured cabling can help achieve IP convergence for previously non-standardized devices too. IP-based digital cameras and legacy analog cameras can now be connected through an Ethernet-based switch to digital network storage devices. This allows real-time event recognition and alarm generation. Such developments are creating new dynamics for the cabling infrastructure.

Limited network usage has given way to round the clock usage. Bandwidth optimized applications may be around, but new apps are coming up, which no organization can turn its back on.

Organic business growth is passé, and mergers the flavor of the day. And in between it all is the network infrastructure. Modular and scalable cabling solutions enable these changes and high-speed networks are changing the way businesses deliver customer service. There is plenty of action ahead. Watch this space.

Suma EP

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