Broadband Developments

I cornered Doug Gourlay Senior Director of Product Marketing of Cisco’s Datacenter Business Unit, at the Infrastructure 2.0 event to answer my question about what he means when he says “The Modernization of the Datacenter”.

Question (John Furrier): What do you say to all the skeptics who say that you’re promoting the modernization of the datacenter because you’re in that business and that it really isn’t a problem? Is this just virtualization or is there another issue?

Answer (Doug Gourlay): It’s absolutely a systems approach. There are multiple factors. Lets take Moore’s law for instance which has proven true over the past 30 years. In datacenters you want it to last at least 10 -15 yrs. With 750x processor improvements under Moore’s law in the last 12 years yet cooling efficiencies has only grown 64x for IT assets - that is an 11 or 12x disparity. That’s why you see datacenters with racks designed to cool 4000 to 6000 watts. If I took a set of blades today I would need to cool it with only 30,000 watts. The reality is that we can draw more power then we can efficiently cool today. You either run out of space so — we made denser equipment; you ran out of cooling capacity — you bought more crack units; you ran out of power and the power company will NOT give you more. So when we talk about a modernization were talking about the underlying physical facilities that we built are being obsoleted almost every 5 yrs.

Question (John Furrier): It’s not just a Cisco issue it’s more of an environmental issue around the datacenter themselves ..the raw infrastructure the physical plant or whatever to equipment.

Answer (Doug Gourlay): That’s the biggest compelling event. how do i enable the IT infrastructure to make that facility infrastructure last longer.

To View the Entire Infrastructure 2.0 video feed click here (sorry registration required).

I had a chance to meet with Doug Gourlay, Senior Director of Cisco’s Datacenter Business Unit, to ask him about what he thinks of Infrastructure 2.0.

Very interesting response.  I have a few more segments:  Modernization of the Data Center and What Cisco thinks of the phrase “Moving up the stack”.

To view the entire Cisco event in video you can go here - Click here for the Cisco Infrastructure 2.0 event.

Enjoy the video (less than 2 mins).

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has acquired Q-layer, a cloud computing company that automates the deployment and management of both public and private clouds. The Q-layer organization, based in Belgium, will become part of Sun’s Cloud Computing business unit which develops and integrates cloud computing technologies, architectures and services.

This is an interesting announcement because cloud computing is very “cloudy” in that it’s very ‘hot’ right now but there are some major security and reliabiity issues with cloud computing.  Just this week Amazon crashed my server on a project and we lost all of our code - we have backup but the hassle factor is high.  Cloud Computing is not ready for primetime so I’m interested in finding out how this annoucement might cause some “needed” SUN to shine in this cloud computing area.

Here is more info on the SUN acquisition.  The Q-layer technology simplifies cloud management and allows users to quickly provision and deploy applications, a key component in Sun’s strategy to enable building public and private clouds. As businesses continue to rely more on technology to drive mission-critical processes, the agility of the datacenter determines the flexibility of the entire company. The Q-layer software supports instant provisioning of services such as servers, storage, bandwidth and applications, enabling users to scale their own environments to meet their specific requirements.

“Sun’s open, network-centric approach coupled with optimized systems, software and services provides the critical building blocks for private and public cloud offerings,” said David Douglas, senior vice president of Cloud Computing and chief sustainability officer, Sun Microsystems. “Q-layer’s technology and expertise will enhance Sun’s offerings, simplifying cloud management and speeding application deployment.”

Cloud computing brings compute and data resources onto the Web and offers higher efficiency, massive scalability and faster and easier software development. Sun is an ideal advisor and partner for companies that want to build cloud computing facilities within their organizations, and for companies and service providers that want to build publicly available cloud computing services. Sun has the open technology, expertise and vision to help companies build, run and use their own clouds. For more information on Sun’s cloud computing strategy, please visit: http://sun.com/cloud.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed as the transaction is not material to Sun.

Cisco has a great blog post about their 2009 predictions and it’s very upbeat. Although Cisco is aiming to be a household brand, they are the 800 pound gorilla position in the enterprise.

Ethernet and IP are remarkably resilient technologies and they can both take a lot of abuse, but there enough concurrent pressures in the data center right now (i.e. operational complexity, scaling, virtualization, power/cooling) that attention is shifting back to infrastructure.  As Jon Oltsik recently pointed out “…these core services have been a virtually ignored kludge leading to unplanned downtime, security vulnerabilities, and manual operations…”

Gregory Ness lays out why virtualized, dynamic infrastructure, such as Data Center 3.0 will continue to to see targeted investment in a recent post:

Network vendors who continue to focus on static infrastructure “speeds and feeds” and CIOs who embrace a dying status quo of networking manual labor empires will be replaced by more innovative and strategic approaches that embrace automation as much internally (within the network) as they deliver externally (systems and operations). Networking pros will be thusly rewarded for embracing policy tools versus reactionary configuration as ad hoc policy in response to higher rates of change within increasing complex networks.

The folks that are running out of something (budget, space, people, power, cooling) will move towards dynamic infrastructure out of necessity–its the only sustainable way they can support the needs of their business.  The second scenario are the folks that adopt dynamic infrastructure out of choice–they see the fluidity of the infrastructure as an advantage–furthermore the TCO reduction either allows them to invest in other places or return money back to the company–both of which will give companies competitive advantage and turn their CIOs into rock stars.

Greg Ness wrote a post over at Seeking Alpha on Infrastructure 2.0 or Dynamic Enterprise.

Over the last three decades the network has grown to a point of exhaustion for many enterprises, with critical projects being slowed by the demands of manual IT labor, from core network services like DNS/DHCP and IPAM (IP address management) to the new dynamic processing power potentials unleashed by virtualization and cloud computing. A report last fall by Computerworld showed large enterprises already experiencing diseconomies of scale (rising per unit IP address management costs as IP addresses are added), before even more endpoint and system movement and change is enabled by new initiatives designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

When you combine rising (manual labor) costs on a per IP address basis with the ongoing expansion of the network (more IP addresses) within the context of a global recession you have the makings of a wake up call for vendors and CIOs: a wake up call driven by rising operations expenses, increasing outages and fixed or even declining budgets as networks become more operationally significant.

Those who embrace the power of automation will crowd out those who fail to see the implications of new demands.

As the Infrastructure 2.0 meme spreads, there are four companies that are destined to lead: Cisco, F5 Networks, Microsoft (MSFT) and Infoblox (my employer). Within a couple weeks Cisco and Infoblox will share a stage at the San Jose Fairmont to talk about the biggest revolution in networking since TCP/IP. In a few months Cisco, F5 and Infoblox will address FIRE attendees on the dynamic infrastructure revolution. I mention Microsoft because it is the leader in endpoint operating systems and has been very vocal about its virtualization and cloud solutions.

Dynamic infrastructure will unleash new potentials in the network, from connectivity intelligence (dynamic links and reporting between networks, endpoints and applications) to the rise of IT automation on a scale that few have anticipated. It will unleash new consolidation potentials for virtualized data centers and various forms of cloud computing. It will enable networks to ultimately keep up with increasing change velocities and complexity without a concomitant rise in network management expenses and manual labor risks.

Further down the road there will be even more capabilities emerging from Infrastructure 2.0 as virtualization and cloud payoffs put more pressure on brittle Infrastructure 1.0 networks.

As networking vendors fight against stable or even declining enterprise IT budgets the automation of otherwise mundane, manual tasks that are driving up the expense of the network will stand out as the critical chasm between extinction and ongoing growth. The larger the payoff promised by dynamic systems and endpoints the greater the pressure on static networks managed by kludge and CIO shell games.

For static network hardware vendors, enterprises will simply stop upgrading their networks at their former pace because they won’t have the operations budgets to properly administer the new gear. And those CIO buyers will be squeezed by increasingly eroding business cases for their strategic network projects as peer companies continue to evolve and exploit the power of new initiatives. They will experience new initiative diseconomies as they throw more bodies at more changes and outages.

This “dynamic or dead” scenario will start with core network service automation, as Oltsik predicted and will enable breakthroughs in other areas, including IF-MAP and Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA ala Cisco) and Data Center 3.0. This is just the beginning.

I find it interesting that its interesting that Cisco, Infoblox, and F5 have come together very quickly around this Infrastructure 2.0 meme.

Interested in Infrastructure 2.0 from Cisco then click here to register.

Network infrastructure will be transformed in coming months by new levels of automation and intelligence driven by new system and endpoint demands and new IT initiatives. Find out how you can boost network availability and flexibility while reducing TCO by transforming your static network infrastructure into a dynamic network infrastructure capable of responding quickly to the needs of more dynamic systems and endpoints. Attendees will learn about:

• Cisco’s perspective on the biggest revolution in data center networking technology since TCP/IP
• Why new initiatives, from RFID/supply chain to voip/wireless and virtualization will require dynamic infrastructure
• Why core network services automation and “connectivity intelligence” are a critical part of the evolution to Infrastructure 2.0

Speakers:
Stuart Bailey, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Infoblox
Doug Gourlay, Senior Director, Cisco

Moderator:
Richard Kagan, VP Marketing, Infoblox

Sign up now for this announcement HERE.

There is a great post going on over at F5 devcentral by Lori MacVittie.  She calls it  How VM sprawl will drive the urgency of the network evolution.

The bottom line is the the network infrastructure is capable of being smarter.  The opportunity (for companies) is to create or enable the “Dynamic Enterprise.”.   Like Web 2.0 did for web sites and web apps, Infrastructure 2.0 will do for networks - addressable, discovery, intelligence, and policy will be at the center of the Infrastructure 2.0 equation.  The network needs to be smarter and automated to new functionality and benefits.

Lori writes:  “VM sprawl is predicted to be one of the outcomes of early adoption and excitement over virtualization. Just as IT struggled to manage the explosion of PCs and servers across the enterprise, it is predicted that now it will need to find a way to manage the explosion of virtual machines as they pop up all over the enterprise with surprising alacrity.

Part of the difficulty in managing new technology is the rogue deployment of X. Whether that’s physical or virtual servers is irrelevant, the challenges associated with managing what are essentially unmanaged applications and servers deployed outside normal organizational processes are the same.

One of the reasons these rogue deployments are so difficult to manage is that they are, effectively, invisible to the management systems and IT staff tasked with controlling them. They simply come into existence in what appears to be a whim, taking over network resources such as IP addresses and ports. This spontaneous existence is problematic, because those network resources may be needed for other, business critical uses.”

I have to say that I really like working with Infoblox -solid company with solid products. Infoblox supports this blog and social media.  What a refreshing change from the old way of doing things. The new model is to connect with people in the community - peers and collegues.

Thanks Infoblox.

Here is a post from Greg Ness’ blog on their new bloxNews. Below is the note from Greg Ness

Infoblox Monthly eNewsletter now Online

We started bloxNews(TM) at Infoblox a couple of months ago as a way to collect and share industry developments related to core network services, IP address management as well as relevant trends in networking, security, virtualization and cloud computing. It goes out monthly to more than 10,000 readers.

Would love to hear what you think. We place a heavy content emphasis on industry news and commentary that we think are worth following. We also sprinkle in a bit of bloxTV and bloxRadio on topics like DNS, DNS security, DNSSEC and upcoming episodes on IPAM (IP address management).

I’ve been blogging recently about Infrastructure 2.0, or a dynamic infrastructure capable of keeping up with new initiatives, from RFID and consolidation to virtualization, wireless, VoIP and cloud. I think the automation of core network services (including DNS, DHCP and IPAM) will be strategic to the build-outs of dynamic infrastructure and the establishment of economies of scale. Many of these services are managed manually today, driving up network TCO while eroding availability and flexibility and security.

Without automation of these core network services enterprise networks will experience diseconomies of scale.

You can subscribe to bloxNews here.

Infoblox Inc. today announced that the University of Minnesota has deployed Infoblox appliances for delivery ofcore network services, including internal and external domain name resolution (DNS) and IP address assignment and management (DHCP/IPAM) –essential to daily operation of its extensive network and applications,enabling access to resources such as student registration, assignments andhealth records. In addition to bolstering reliability, manageability and security of itscore network services infrastructure, ensuring nonstop delivery of DNS and DHCP services, the University has implemented a unique authentication portal enabled by Infoblox appliances that allows more than 6,500residential hall students easy, secure and authorized network access.

The previous solution for network address management services did not meetthe University’s requirements. The University requirements expanded inscope, scale and functionality, focusing on self-service and security.

Mike LeVoir, network design engineer at the University of Minnesota,commented: “The Infoblox solution met the University’s requirements ofbuilt-in reliability and features that allow delegated management withdata-entry templates for the various departments.”

“Infoblox made the process of implementing our student authenticationportal seamless. Students used to have to locate their MAC address — notnecessarily intuitive for some — and then register their device with theIT department by physically visiting one of our centers. With Infoblox,the students don’t need to know their own MAC address, nor do they have toleave their dorm rooms. What used to take 30 minutes now takes seconds,and we moved the process from something cumbersome to something muchsimpler both for students and the IT department.”

On campus, there are 6 Infoblox appliances running the Infoblox DNSonepackage that includes Infoblox’s unique grid technology. The gridtechnology links the Infoblox appliances together so they can operate as aunified system for resiliency and management advantages. An HA pair isacting as grid masters, two are delivering DHCP services, and the remainingtwo are performing DNS services as authoritative masters. Additionally,there is one at the Univ. of Washington, which via grid technology is fullyintegrated with a remote authoritative master and the local six appliances.

The University is currently using the authenticated DHCP function in campusresidence halls with plans to roll it out to the entire University. Whenlogging on to the University network, students are automatically redirectedto a captive portal where they are shown a registration page and acceptableuse policy. Once authorized, students are then assigned aUniversity-issued IP address. Previously, students had to go to a physicallab on campus and register their device(s). It was a cumbersome and timeconsuming process. Now using the portal, students simply plug in theirdevice in their dorm room, log on and they are on the network after aseamless host registration process.

I think it is only a matter of time before ALL of the leading networking players start talking about the (strategic importance of the) network as a way to succeed in an uncertain economic climate. Last week, in “Cloud Computing, Virtualization and IT Diseconomies” I talked about the increasingly intense pressures already building on static network infrastructure, and the underlying need for more intelligence and automation.

These intense pressures are setting the stage for the next technology boom, by creating gaps between what networks can do today and what they’ll need to do tomorrow. I was amazed at how quickly the concept of Infrastructure2.0 spread, including an interesting discussion at F5 Network’s pace-setting DevCentral blog.

These pressures are coming from increasing rates of change, especially in larger networks supporting more devices and branches and processes, as well as with the introduction of consolidation, virtualization and cloud computing initiatives. These new initiatives are introducing even higher rates of change and making it clear that a static network will no longer be a strategic network.

The rest of the article is here at Greg Ness’ personal blog

Thanks Greg for the deep analysis.