Editor's note: We will be changing how we send out Network World newsletters over the next few weeks. To ensure future delivery of your newsletters, please add nww_newsletters@newsletters.networkworld.com to your e-mail address book or 66.186.127.216 to your white-list file. Thank you. The challenges of virtualization The recent IT Roadmap conference in Chicago began with Jim and two other analysts on stage being asked questions by John Gallant. Given the current economic conditions, the question and answer session focused on cost savings. One of the questions posed to Jim was, "Should IT organizations be looking to implement virtualization as a means of saving money?" Jim's answer was yes, but only if they realize the impact that virtualization has on the WAN, on management, and on application delivery. The next few newsletters will explain exactly what that impact is. The impact of server virtualization In the last newsletter, we began discussing some of the challenges associated with server virtualization. In this newsletter, we will continue that discussion by talking about some of the specific WAN challenges that are associated with server virtualization. The impact of virtualization on networks and applications Over the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion in the trade press about virtualization. While some of these discussions make it appear as if virtualization is a new topic, it is not. We have had virtualized WANs since the advent of X.25, roughly 30 years ago and we have had virtualized LANs for almost 15 years. So virtualization is not new, but that doesn't mean that we can ignore it. With that in mind, this WAN newsletter will begin the discussion of the impact of virtualization on networks and applications. Cisco, NetQoS move a step closer to integrated network optimization, management Last time, we pointed out that network organizations have the opportunity to both show business value and do good things for the careers of network professionals by demonstrating how they ensure that the company’s key business applications exhibit acceptable performance. We also pointed out that ensuring acceptable application performance is difficult as it requires the tight integration of planning, optimization, management and control. Regrettably, most application delivery solutions do not provide a rich set of well integrated planning, optimization and management functionality. In fact, some WAN optimizations products can cause existing planning and management functionality to break. Today, we’ll discuss some of the problems with the current application delivery solutions and detail how NetQoS and Cisco have worked together to solve at least some of the problems. What makes a WAN optimization controller? Choosing a vendor can be the most challenging part of a WAN optimization project, given the wide range of vendors, features and technology options available today. Enterprises in the market for WAN optimization ... Applications have a need for WAN speed Vendors are loading their gear with new features, but the core need for WAN speed should still guide WOC buying decisions. Application performance management and WAN acceleration are hard problems to solve and are part ... 100% trade-in credit for Nortel products Cisco Subnet blogger Brad Reese takes note of Enterasys' offer to Nortel customers: 100% trade-in credit for Nortel products. CCNP Lab Build – Product choices Wendell Odom explains why he'd consider one router or switch over another with the goal of building a CCNP lab. What would you buy with $750 to spend on gear, and a $50 cable budget. April giveaways galore Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet are giving away training courses from Global Knowledge, valued at $2,995 and $3,495, and have copies of three hot books up for grabs: CCVP CIPT2 Quick Reference by Anthony Sequeira, Microsoft Voice Unified Communications by Joe Schurman and Microsoft Office 2007 On Demand by Steve Johnson. Deadline for entries April 30. Network World on Twitter Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news. |
No comments:
Post a Comment