2. 2
The data center has historically
been the focal point of technology
evolution. Over the past decade,
application architectures, servers,
and storage have all changed the
way services are provisioned and
delivered. The foundation of the data
center—the network itself—is now
experiencing a similar level of change,
evolving from the architectures of
the past to a more agile and dynamic
solution that meets the requirements
of today’s applications.
This change is seen with the growth of
10GbE networks at the server access
layer. In the data center, 10GbE top-of-
rack switches are seeing their biggest
growth ever; in the second quarter
of 2012, the number of 10GbE ports
purchased was about 3.44 million—a
growth rate of 13% quarter over
quarter.1
This growth increased to 22%
in the second quarter of 2013, with
purchases reaching 5.19 million ports.2
A number of factors are responsible
for this growth: increasingly powerful
multicore compute systems; the rapid
adoption of server virtualization; and
virtualization at the I/O layer as storage
and data networks converge. The
network is the glue that holds this all
together; after all, greater bandwidth
is required to accommodate the
applications this infrastructure is being
built to support.
Chuck Girt, vice president of
engineering and operations for
OneCommunity, a broadband provider
in Northeast Ohio, faces these
requirements on a daily basis. “As
customers demand more bandwidth
and more horsepower, we can meet
those needs without having to forklift
anything,” says Girt. “We just keep
adding to the system.”
1
Dell’Oro Group, Ethernet Switch Layer 2+3 Report, 2Q ‘12
2
Dell’Oro Group, Ethernet Switch Layer 2+3 Report, 2Q ‘13
Q1 ‘12 Q2 ‘12 Q3 ‘12 Q4 ‘12 Q1 ‘13 Q2 ‘13 Q3 ‘13*
Q4 ‘13*
*Forecast
7,000
6,500
6,000
5,500
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
10GbE Ports
Source: Dell'Oro Group, Ethernet Switch Layer 2+3 Report, 2Q ‘13
Figure 1: 10GbE port growth
Don’t Know No plans Under investigation,
planning in the
near future
Small number
of 10GbE servers
deployed (<50%)
Source: Juniper Networks Server Guy’s guide to Network Fabrics Webcast N=1327
Broad deployment
> 50% migrated
to 10GbE
Done.
100% migrated
to 10GbE
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Figure 2: The state of 10GbE data center migration
“As customers demand more bandwidth and more horsepower, we
can meet those needs without having to forklift anything. We just
keep adding to the system.”
- Chuck Girt
Vice President, Engineering
OneCommunity
3. 3
What should one look for when contemplating the leap to a 10GbE data
center? Here are the five most important questions to ask before making
the transition:
1
What applications are you hosting? Are they critical
to your business? Are they high bandwidth, latency sensitive, or
jitter sensitive (in other words, do they use rich media)? Do you have
a few large-scale applications, or many smaller applications? These
applications—and the user experience characteristics that must
accompany them—will determine how to build the right network for
your data center.
2
How virtualized are you? If you’re trying to achieve greater
virtualization density (the number of virtual machines per physical
server), this will have an impact on your network design. What
percentage of your servers is virtualized today, and in what direction
is that trending? Are you trying to achieve even greater economies of
scale by increasing virtualization in your servers? What about virtual
machine mobility—how often and how far are you moving your VMs
on your network?
3
What type of storage are you running? The more you
virtualize, the more difficult it becomes to preprovision appropriate
levels of I/O. This makes converged network adapters (CNAs)
important to support convergence all the way to the edge of the
network. If you’re running a Fibre Channel (FC) network, Fibre Channel
over Ethernet (FCoE), or even iSCSI network access server (NAS),
you’ll need to build a network infrastructure capable of handling the
unique characteristics of your storage requirements as well.
4
Do you need to support 1GbE? As you build the new 10GbE
data center, you will probably still be running business-critical
applications that use 1GbE and need to communicate with your new
applications. As you expand your data center footprint to meet your
10GbE needs, you have to make sure that it’s easily managed and
works seamlessly with your existing applications. That means the
10GbE network must interoperate with your existing 1GbE network,
existing servers, existing storage devices, and all other existing data
center services.
5
Is your network SDN ready? If you’re interested in controlling
your operational expenses and meeting the needs of new
applications, SDN will matter. A modern switch should support
SDN tunnel termination as an L2 gateway and should provide APIs
for integration with management systems. It’s hard to predict what
your needs will be three years from now, but if you can build a
flexible, easy-to-manage, efficient data center network today, you’ll
minimize the risk of having to rip and replace your hardware and
reinvest tomorrow.
10GbE ACCESS IN THE DATA CENTER
Juniper Networks®
QFX5100 Switch
For customers who need to
handle distributed applications,
virtualized workloads, or virtualized
networks, the QFX5100 delivers
the performance, low latency, and
compact form factor required to serve
as a universal building block for any
data center architecture. For more
information, visit
www.juniper.net/us/en/products-
services/switching/qfx-series/5100.
Juniper Networks EX4300
Ethernet Switch
For customers looking for a seamless
migration to 10GbE, Juniper’s Virtual
Chassis technology, available on the
EX4300 Ethernet Switch, offers a
highly efficient and optimal solution.
Virtual Chassis technology allows
multiple interconnected switches
to operate as a single logical device,
simplifying management, while the
EX4300 platform supports both
10GbE and 1GbE connections for
mixed data center environments. For
more information, visit
www.juniper.net/us/en/products-
services/switching/ex-series/4300.
Juniper Networks Junos®
Space
Network Director
For customers who need to manage
and synchronize both physical
and virtual environments, Junos
Space Network Director is a smart,
comprehensive, and automated
network management tool that lets
network administrators visualize,
analyze, and control their entire
enterprise network—physical and
virtual, wired and wireless—through
a single pane of glass. For more
information, visit
www.juniper.net/us/en/products-
services/network-management/
junos-space-applications/network-
director/.
4. Corporate and Sales Headquarters
Juniper Networks, Inc.
1194 North Mathilda Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA
Phone: 888.JUNIPER (888.586.4737)
or +1.408.745.2000
Fax: +1.408.745.2100
www.juniper.net
APAC and EMEA Headquarters
Juniper Networks International B.V.
Boeing Avenue 240
1119 PZ Schiphol-Rijk
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: +31.0.207.125.700
Fax: +31.0.207.125.701
Copyright 2014 Juniper Networks,
Inc. All rights reserved. Juniper
Networks, the Juniper Networks logo,
Junos, NetScreen, and ScreenOS
are registered trademarks of Juniper
Networks, Inc. in the United States
and other countries. All other
trademarks, service marks, registered
marks, or registered service marks
are the property of their respective
owners. Juniper Networks assumes
no responsibility for any inaccuracies
in this document. Juniper Networks
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publication without notice.
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