Technology & IT | Friday 12 June, 2015 12:52 am |

Despite the trend to sweat IT network assets, organisations across the globe are slowly expanding the wireless capabilities of their networks’ access points. However, 74% of these devices are still older models that cannot support advanced enterprise mobility requirements. In addition, the majority of network devices are not yet IPv6-capable – only 21% support IPv6. Combined, these factors point to organisations not giving the impact of the Internet of Things, enterprise mobility, and collaboration via the network sufficient strategic focus.

These are some of the findings in Dimension Data’s annual ¹Network Barometer Report which was published this week. This Report is the only one of its kind that globally analyses, compares and interprets the readiness of today’s networks to accelerate business.

According to Dimension Data’s Raoul Tecala, Business Development Director for Networking, “In previous annual Reports, we argued that the move to enterprise mobility would necessitate an evolution in the access switching network architecture from largely wired to mostly wireless infrastructures. Today, users no longer want to be tethered to their desks. In an environment where the majority of end users connect to the network wirelessly, the traditional campus access-switching network must evolve. In the old model, 80% of the switch ports were for dedicated, wired users while 20% were for shared, wireless users. This ratio will need to change: 80% of switch ports will have to be for shared, wireless users, and 20% for dedicated, wired users.”

But, adds Tecala, for this change to occur, network devices in the access layer require at least three wireless-supporting features including power-over-Ethernet to power the access points, gigabit Ethernet ports on the client side to enable the 300–800MB speeds of 802.11n/ac; and 10-gigabit uplinks – as more users access the network via fewer ports, uplinks need greater capacity in order to avoid congestion.

“The type of technology that organisations choose to refresh can therefore indicate whether they’re preparing for this change to pervasive wireless connectivity. Our data tells us that last year 51% of all ports supported power-over-Ethernet; 45% of all ports supported gigabit Ethernet; and 23% of access switches supported 10-gigabit uplinks. This year, organisations continue to expand the wireless capabilities of their network access points. This is evidenced by increases in two of the three key device requirements for mobile connectivity. Of all access switches analysed, 65% now support power-over-Ethernet – up by 14 percentage points since last year.”

Another improvement in this year’s Report was in the percentage of access switches able to support 10-gigabit uplinks, which rose to 25% – up by 2 percentage points. However, the percentage of access switches able to support gigabit Ethernet has dropped to 37% this year, representing an 8-percentage point decrease since our last Report.

The most important indicator that organisations are growing their network’s mobile capabilities, however, is the increase in access switches able to support power-over-Ethernet. While all new devices come with 10-gigabit uplink speeds, there’s an active choice to be made when refreshing access switches between more cost-effective devices that don’t support power-over-Ethernet and more expensive devices that do. This choice of a more sophisticated, more expensive device indicates a conscious decision on the part of the organisation to opt for expanded functionality.

The Internet of Things is also predicted to have an influence on corporate infrastructures, particularly in the adoption of the new Internet protocol, IPv6, across network devices. IPv6 is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP) which provides an identification and location system for devices on networks, and routes traffic across the Internet.

Tecala reckons that the Internet of Things will see an increasing number and variety of business-enabling technologies interconnecting via networks, including over the Internet. “Non-human objects will be able to gather data from their environment, interact with one another and make intelligent decisions, all without the intervention of a human. This evolution in networking has many business benefits: from generating useful big data that will enable better decision-making, to increasing visibility and control of systems and processes, which will reduce management time and cost.

“The challenge is that the rise in the number of interconnected devices will lead to a scarcity and, eventually, the unavailability of IPv4 addresses. This will compel organisations to adopt the new standard, IPv6.”

In addition, organisations with networks that are mostly IPv4-based have limited visibility of IPv6-enabled technologies in their environments. This exposes them to unnecessary risk, as they won’t be able to monitor and manage those devices properly.

“We recommend that organisations prepare the infrastructure for enterprise mobility and the Internet of Things, which should form part of a coherent network architecture strategy. It shouldn’t be handled reactively, but approached in a more planned and organised way by creating and executing against a comprehensive roadmap of development,” says Tecala.