Have you ever wondered if 10 Gigabit Ethernet is a worthwhile investment for your organization? If so, you’re not alone. A lot of the customers I talk to are considering making the jump from their existing infrastructure, whether it’s Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet. Their biggest concerns are, “Is 10 Gigabit the right fit for my environment?” and “Where should I deploy it to get the most bang for my buck?” I recently hosted a new video segment called a “Chalk Talk” that explores this topic and provides a step-by-step explanation of when, where, and why to use 10 Gigabit for the greatest ROI. Read on to learn more.
If you think of your existing network infrastructure as a highway, deploying 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches will definitely add more lanes to help you move traffic along faster. It’s important to remember, however, that you don’t just need more lanes – you need more on-ramps, more exits, and better signage to really take advantage of that speed. HP understands that, and they’ve put enough resources on their 10 Gigabit switches to ensure you have the ingress and egress buffers and the backplane speeds to get your traffic where it needs to go without any performance issues.
As for the question of where to deploy 10 Gigabit switches, it all depends on your environment. Would you benefit from 10 Gigabit in the data center where you have a lot of east-west traffic between servers? Absolutely. Would you benefit from using 10 Gigabit as aggregation for a large edge back to the core? Without a doubt. Budget is obviously a big factor in the process of deciding when and where to use 10 Gigabit. There are switches out there, like the HP 2900 family, that let you deploy Gigabit Ethernet now and add 10 Gigabit modules later – letting you future proof for later, when you have the budget.
To learn how 10 Gigabit fits into the big picture of your networking strategy, watch the “Power of 10” Chalk Talk. It’s part of a series of Chalk Talk videos where Brian Conway, HP Networking Business Development Specialist, and I sketch out solutions to your networking challenges.
