connecting users to applications: the end of the line for edge

Connecting Users to Applications:

The End of the Line for Edge Switches

MERUNETWORKS.COM

Joel Vincent | May 2011

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InTrodUCTIon 3

USErS ChAngE EvEryThIng 3

USErS ChAngE EvEryThIng... AgAIn 3

TrAnSITIon pLAn of ACTIon 4

ThE TImE IS now 7

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InTrodUCTIon

Every innovation in networking has had one goal—to better connect users with applications. In the past 30 years, the way that people use applications has changed profoundly twice. The first time was with the advent of the personal computer. We are living in the second seismic shift—the mobilization of communication, information access, and cloud applications.

Multi-billion-dollar corporations have been built around ways of connecting users to applications for the PC paradigm. However, mobility is changing everything from infrastructure to application, to devices. Legacy architec-tures based on Ethernet switching at the network edge are on End of Life notice; IT organizations no longer have two to three years of time to decide if they want to evolve their infrastructures. The costs, labor requirements, and increas-ing demand for efficiency associated with these networks are quickly moving ahead of IT’s ability to keep up.

The time is now. Users have embraced mobile modes of operation and they won’t go back. It is up to IT to opti-mize for mobility and drive its direction for achieving their business’ performance goals. This paper discusses how to prepare for the End Of Life of Ethernet switching at the edge of the network.

USErS ChAngE EvEryThIng

Three short decades ago, users drove business produc-tivity through terminals connected to mainframe-based applications. At this time it was IT’s job to optimize the network architecture for those terminal-to-mainframe con-nections. These networks were architected as a single, “flat”, bridged architecture that carried IBM SNA traffic quickly from user to the mainframe. Most network traffic and processing was focused in the network core with the mainframe.

The personal computer (PC) revolutionized the user operat-ing mode, and IT faced significant adjustments in connect-ing users to applications instead of mainframe hardware. With PCs, applications were installed on distributed personal computers, most of the computing was done at users’ desktops, while important data was shared among departmental servers. Networks built for mainframes and terminals soon became obsolete in the new client/server world. Bridged architecture was labor-intensive to trouble-shoot, expensive to build out, and unable to scale as well. Newer protocols like TCP/IP, Novell IPX, and other PC protocols and operating systems required more network intelligence closer to the user, which became known as intelligent edge switching.

The shift to client/server computing drove hundreds of technology innovations. Network architecture evolved to optimize the performance of workstations and centralized servers with most of the work being done at desks. Core,

aggregation, and edge connectivity became the standard architecture with the goal of connecting users at desks to server-based applications as efficiently as possible. Rout-ers, Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches, Layer 4-7 switches, and wide area network (WAN) optimization were among the innovations designed to increase the productivity of desk-bound users. Even early wireless local area network (WLAN) systems were designed to connect laptops at desks or in conference rooms to servers. The advent of the PC changed the IT landscape forever.

USErS ChAngE EvEryThIng…AgAIn

Early WLANs were usually deployed as a convenience to employees and corporate visitors. Legacy WLAN archi-tectures built on microcellular Wi-Fi access points were designed to connect laptops to the network. Many argue that they do an adequate job, density notwithstanding. Wireless laptops are simply wireless devices connected to the network and they do not, as it turns out, truly change the user’s mode of operation. A user still sits at a desk, in a conference room, or on a plane and works the same way that he would work on a wired network. However, as more users began to use wireless, the “convenience networks” began to experience problems associated with growing user density.

Figure 1: Mobility is here to stay as users continue to embrace mobile devices.

By contrast, mobility is more than just wireless connected devices. Mobility enables users to move while they work and communicate, which completely changes how users connect to applications. Today’s mobile devices, such as Apple iPads, iPhones, smartphones, and media tabletsare being joined in the enterprise by devices that are not lim-ited to interaction and direction from human users—they

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conduct machine-to-machine communication over the Wi-Fi network. All of these devices are actually optimized for conducting business while in motion (i.e. mobile) and delivering a superior user experience. However, the manufacturers of these devices have no control over and no interest in mechanisms that make integration into the enterprise simple, they expect IT to adapt to the new user experience and the assume the network is optimized for mobility.

Therefore, once again, IT must adjust to the new way that users work. IDC reports that shipments of devices typically found in the enterprise with built-in Wi-Fi (not including machine-to-machine communication) will reach approxi-mately 1.3 billion in shipments by 2014 ; shipments of devices that have never had an Ethernet port will surpass devices that do in 2011. What creates even more difficulty for IT is that the Ethernet-free devices are using cloud applications and unified communications meaning mobile business is increasingly comprised of real-time video and voice communication. Therefore mobile users require networks that must support high speed, high user density, and high quality of service without any wiring whatsoever.

In today’s reality, the architecture designed in the PC-era for users to connect to applications while stationary was never designed to handle the post PC-era of computing with the ubiquitous mobility demanded by today’s users. With overwhelming adoption of iPads, iPhones, tablets, scanners, and other non-laptop devices, users are serving an End Of Life notice for Ethernet switches in wiring clos-ets, with their lifespan expected to end within three years.

TrAnSITIon pLAn of ACTIon

Create Access Built Specifically for Mobility

Mobility significantly changes the requirements for enter-prise access networks. With mobile applications and devices predominating, and with the rapid adoption of cloud-based applications, access networks no longer need the high switching power required by PC-based architec-tures. Implementing an edge architecture that is purpose-built for mobility requires three things:

• Process • Technology • Product

Process: Reuse, reduce, recycle

The network design tenets of the past 20 years called for IT architects to design access layers by provisioning anywhere from two to four Ethernet switch ports per desk. As organizations increasingly go wireless, access switches become underutilized, taking more space and consuming more resources than their workload justifies. For example, instead of two to four ports per desk, one port for a wired phone is enough, and few users expect to use wired phones at all within the next three to five years.

Therefore, the first step in preparing the network for transi-tion is an assessment process called switch consolida-tion. Switch consolidation more efficiently uses existing switches to support a mobile environment, while reducing the total number of wired switches or ports that an organi-zation needs. It also reduces IT’s reliance on functionality built into Ethernet edge switches and pushes that respon-sibility to the centralized wireless system that seamlessly integrates with the corporate datacenter. Consolidation is not a forklift upgrade to the wiring closet. It is a seam-less transition away from switches by investing less in the static architecture while moving to a new network edge designed for mobility.

Switch consolidation begins with an overall review of the network architecture in place. Start with a review of the physical hardware inventory and then conduct a network audit to see where the wired network is currently over-built. Using statistics from existing network management tools, analyze traffic patterns to understand the typical daily usage. These steps will provide a clearer picture of which areas of the enterprise are most “mobile” and where a mobility architecture should be implemented first.

During a typical assessment, many organizations find areas where wireless is already in heavy demand and many users are mobile. In these areas, Ethernet switches can often be better utilized, often reducing total Ethernet switch port count by more than 80 or 90 percent repre-senting a huge savings capital expense in the wiring closet as well as ongoing support costs. Beyond that, consolida-tion, depending on the network architecture in place, will also allow switches to be re-purposed for aggregation instead of access. Fully depreciated switches can ulti-mately be recycled or donated to charitable organizations. Support contract and physical plant cost savings are typi-cally more than enough to offset the cost of implementing the new mobile edge.

A common pitfall of switch consolidation is that IT archi-tects either consider forklift upgrades to switches or place more functionality at the network edge by adding advanced edge switches. Neither option makes financial nor functional sense:

1. Building more functionality into edge switches makes them more expensive—certainly on the initial purchase but also for support contracts and every future switch refresh.

2. Replacing a switch with another switch does not address the new user mode of operation. Therefore, it perpetuates an architecture that is meant for desktop computers instead of today’s iPads, iPhones, tablets, or machine-to-machine mobile communications, which results in not meeting the business’ needs.

According to Gartner Inc., when evaluating switching archi-tecture, “consider Gartner’s recommendations to reduce spending for standard Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and

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routing; focus on spending money that will more directly affect user productivity and performance” (Source: Gartner Inc., Rethinking LAN Switching Architectures, February 25, 2011). With users inevitably going mobile, an architecture that is purpose-built for PCs in a client/server world is counter-intuitive.

Technology: Purpose-Built for Mobility

When the network review is complete and switches have been reduced, reused, or recycled, IT architects can begin to choose areas appropriate for moving to an all-wireless edge. The right technologies can deliver:

• Gigabit speeds for distribution/aggregation

• Flexible software configurations for multiple wire-less service requirements, such as security, spectrum analysis, and others

• Redundancy and high availability

• Seamless integration for future high-speed wireless technologies

Traditional microcell WLAN architectures were designed to complement wired infrastructures implemented for stationary users. Traditional enterprise Wi-Fi networks include alternating channels to provide coverage while attempting to avoid interference, and client devices decide which access point is best to service them. Ulti-mately, the guiding network design principle is to maintain a certain number of users per access point and as long as this condition is met, service should be fine.

Figure 2: Prior to mobilization, the network was optimized for cubicles and conference rooms. (Obsolete)

To understand if a Wi-Fi network is this type of network, simply answer the question “What do you do if the density of users increases in a given area?” If the answer

is “reduce the power of existing access points and add more” instead of “do nothing,” the network is a tradi-tional microcell WLAN. This means that it is designed to connect devices wirelessly as long as they don’t move.

With truly mobile users, it is possible, and easy, to design areas where there is consistently a crowd of users. However, no one can predict when or where that crowd will move next. The only answer to providing ubiquitous coverage and have any hope of providing a mobile net-work with a microcell architecture is to assume the crowd is everywhere and overbuild everything.

Virtualization is a technological concept that has trans-formed almost every part of the network architecture. With it, data center architectures are achieving new levels of scalability, quality of service, efficiency and flexibility. They can better utilize the physical resources (storage drives, server hardware, application servers, etc.) and are make the network software configurable to provide com-puting power when and where its needed.

Virtualization also fundamentally changes the premise of WLAN design. Meru Networks introduced virtualization into the WLAN to create an access architecture designed specifically for mobility. Meru’s virtualized wireless technology pools all available wireless resources and partitions it to create per-device wireless environments. In this environment, each device has a virtual “port” that is provisioned with all of the processing power, quality of service, and security that is required for that device. As the device moves, its environment moves with it so that the device performs exactly the same, regardless whether it is stationary or mobile, in a warehouse or in a crowded classroom, in a hotel room or in a sports arena. Virtualizing wireless access creates a network that is purpose-built for mobility.

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Figure 3: Network access purpose-built for mobility.

Product: The Kill Switch

The new network edge is unwired and mobile—able to effortlessly accommodate high user density, real-time voice and video applications, people on the move, and unpredictable new demands. But what does it take to cre-ate this new mobile edge?

First, it requires on-demand power for mobile devices. This includes iPads, iPhones, and other smart devices as well as laptops. Second, the edge demands exceptional flexibility to meet rapidly changing usage patterns and business needs.

Meru’s broad, Wi-Fi-certified product offering incorporates patented virtualization technology that creates a software-configurable continuous “access fabric” comprised of multiple single channel Virtual Cells™ simultaneously serving the entire coverage area at the same time.

Figure 4: Access Fabric comprised of 3 virtual cells simultaneously serving 3 RF channels

All enterprise wireless resources are pooled into a Virtual Cell™ and power is dynamically partitioned via Virtual Ports™ and delivered to each client on-demand. This cre-ation of an access fabric better utilizes the RF spectrum and makes every channel available for use over every square foot of coverage, which dramatically increases wireless network scalability.

An important element of a Virtual Cell-based access fabric is its ability to support true user mobility. In a Meru network, mobile clients retain their specific wireless environments no matter where users roam and no matter how many users are active simultaneously. In a Virtual Cell access fabric, each mobile client is allocated its own virtual port, which provides a customized environment optimized for that specific device. For instance, the Virtual Cell will recognize an Apple iPad versus a laptop and opti-mize the radio performance for the lower-power iPad to instantly improve reception and overall performance.

Figure 5: A virtualized access fabric comprised of multiple virtual cells vastly increases scalability of Wi-Fi.

A partitioning the wireless resources via virtual ports also ensures that every device has fair access to network resources and personalized security policies, based on the user’s identity. Once attached to a Virtual Cell, the user has a single point of entry to the network that retains its connection characteristics even when a user roams across physical access devices.

Once switches have been consolidated and a Meru virtu-alized wireless LAN architecture has been implemented, wired switches can be removed from the network’s access layer and moved to the aggregation layer. Meru implements the latest 802.11n standards on every prod-uct and creates an access fabric, comprised of multiple simultaneous Virtual Cells, with an aggregate capacity of 1.8Gbps across (4) RF channels. This industry-leading capability enables enterprises to effectively dedicate Meru products to serve other access points (see Figure 3). Meru’s flexible software configurability allows orga-nizations to seamlessly transition from the PC-era wired edge to the post-PC era mobile edge, preserving switch-ing investments and gradually phasing out wired switches

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from access. Ultimately, the new mobile edge built on Meru products utilizes multiple Virtual Cells for distribution of traffic as well as device access allowing the wired link to be decommissioned, connect directly back to aggrega-tion switches, and completely eliminating the concept of a “wiring closet”.

ThE TImE IS now

Connecting users to applications is taking another tech-nological leap forward, and this time, the leap may be easier to make than in the mainframe and client/server past. As networks prepare for true mobility, they can actu-ally require less hardware. They employ highly intelligent software. They can be much simpler to manage while enabling scalability and flexibility to meet business needs on a previously unheard-of scale.

The time is now to begin moving the network toward supporting true mobility. The End of Life notice has been served on Ethernet access switches and there is no going back.

For more information, visit www.merunetworks.com or call 877.952.6725.

connecting users to applications: the end of the line for edge

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