Tablet computers, virtualization, and ‘cloud-o-nomics’ are driving a fundamental shift in data center design and IT delivery. At the center of the change is the data center network, which connects many devices and where greater speeds in smaller spaces are increasingly necessary.

New technology, available but often not fully trusted because it has been around such a short time, is helping support this change. This is reflected in IT spend on network infrastructure solutions.

“A shift in IT purchasing is occurring,” notes Ixia (News - Alert) in a report published by Lippis Report. “IT leaders are now forced to upgrade their infrastructure to meet information and application demand. To close the gap, IT business decision makers are investing in 10GbE switching. Over the past several quarters, sales of 10GbE fixed and modular switches have grown in the 60% to 70% range.”

The report details results of a robust study Ixia organized, examining the performance of 10GbE switches, including Alcatel-Lucent’s (News - Alert) OmniSwitch 10K.    

“IT leaders are looking for Ethernet to provide a single data center fabric that connects all IT assets with the promise of less equipment to install, simpler management and speed,” Ixia explained in the report.

Among the impacts on private and public data center cloud network fabric are virtualization, traffic pattern shifts with exponential volume increases, low latency, more storage traffic over Ethernet fabric, fewer network tiers, the need for lower power consumption, and a trend toward link aggregation.

To find out what choices IT leaders have available to them, Ixia tested 10GbE data center switches in a modern lab. Ixia supplied the test equipment, and Leviton provided optical connectors and cabling. Switch vendors configured their equipment while Ixia engineers ran tests.

The tests were designed to evaluate latency, power consumption, and ability to handle various types of traffic flow.

After running the tests, Ixia concluded that 10GbE technology is mature and ready for mass deployment, but that suppliers vary considerably in the network services they offer.

For example, here is Ixia’s assessment of Alcatel-Lucent’s switch: “The Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 10K possessed the highest 10GbE port density of 256. As such this switch can support the largest number of 40GbE/100GbE ports without backplane upgrade.”

Overall, Ixia assembled the following broad recommendations for IT leaders shopping for appropriate 10GbE solutions:

• Deploy core switches the demonstrate efficient power and cooling
• Choose switches that are ready for storage enablement
• Carefully evaluate core switches for network services and fabric differences
• Connect servers at 10GbE
• Consider a two-tier network architecture

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