Evolving Network Architectures
Technology is always changing so network architecture needs to change with it. Current challenges are Bring your own device (BYOD) which allows workers to use their own phones and laptops/tablets at work, online collaboration, video collaboration, and cloud computing. These require more and different security practices along with faster network speeds to handle video streaming.
Cisco has developed three new network architectures to accommodate the new technologies.
Cisco Borderless Networks
Allows clients to connect securely, reliably, and seamlessly to the corporate network in a BYOD environment. This solution is not set but must continue changing to handle the shifting borders/changing technologies.
This architecture offers two sets of service:
- Borderless end-point/ user services allow the user to connect on any device, wires/wireless, and get the same reliable/ secure connection. Cisco recommends that smart phones and tablets should use the Cisco AnyConnect app to establish a secure, persistent, policy-based connection for a seamless user experience.... *yay marketing! I swear I only rolled my eyes once while typing*
- Borderless network services works to secure the connections to the many new devices and allows them access to network resources. It also allows the implementation of policy based architecture to us centeralized access controls. Also provides support for online video and voice. *I assume with QoS but it doesn't say*
Collaboration Architecture
Cisco provides products, applications, software dev kits, and APIs to support collaborative environments.
Cisco's Collaboration Architecture is composed of three layers:
- Application and Devices layer contains communications and conference applications such as!, Cisco WebEx Meetings, WebEx Social, Cisco Jabber, and TelePresence. These applications to create and maintain the connections for voice, video, web conferencing, messaging, mobile apps, and enterprise software.
- Collaboration Services layer supports collaboration applications by providing presence, location, session management, contact management, client frameworks, tagging, and policy and security management services.
- Network and computer infrastructure layer is responsible allows collaboration anytime! from anywhere! on any Device! includes virtual machines, the network, and storage! *if they are going to be silly I'm allowed to be too. Picture Billy Mays*
Data center and virtualization
Built on Cisco Data Center 3.0! Provided a set of virtualization technologies and services that bring networking, storage, and virtualization platforms together.
Consists of three components:
- Cisco Unified Management Solutions simplify and automate deploying IT infrastructure and service quickly and "Enterprise" Reliability. In plain talk they provide a central management tool for virtual and physical environments.
- Unified Fabric Solutions provide network services to servers, storage, and applications. They recommend Cisco nexus switches, Catalyst switches, Cisco Fabric manager, Cisco NX-OS Software. *VMware study* The fabric refers to the fiber network that connects to the virtual hosts. These switches/routers typically need to be set statically and considering redundancy. A failure at this step can cost big money. *VMware study*
- Unified Computing Solutions unifies computing, network, storage access, and virtualization into a cohesive system designed to reduce cost of ownership and increase business agility. The Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) is built with blade servers, rack-mount servers, fabric interconnects, and Virtual interface cards (VICs). *VMware study* When virtualizing you pay more for hardware but need less hardware over all so you save money there. Also Licensing is either by core or processor. In a virtual environment you can set the a single processor to the speed you need even though you are using more cores/processors to get that speed virtually it is one processor/core so you can save money there. *VMware study*
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