Trends in networking

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The networking space is buzzing with activity. The domain has witnessed
developments in adoption rates, technology and some increased challenges. This
has made analysts worldwide sit up and watch the evolving trends.

Let’s us analyze some of the significant trends:

• The fundamental and the most important trend is the tremendous growth in
  the Internet traffic. Amit S Phadnis, Manager Software Development, Cisco
  Systems (India) Pvt Ltd., doing significant work in this space, points out
  that the traffic of the Internet worldwide doubles every hundred days while
  the speed of the silicon doubles every eighteen months.

This means that in order for the networks to handle this traffic, today’s
architectures either evolve every hundred days or becomes obsolete and is
replaced by completely new architectures within the same timeframe. This
according to him is a is a tremendous challenge for the companies operating in
this space.

• Secondly, we are now in the early stages of a major technology evolution
  that ultimately will allow the existing multiple networks to converge into
  an integrated network that will provide multiple service capabilities more
  efficiently and at a lower cost. Significant changes in both regulation and
  technology are enabling advances that will allow all kinds of communications
  to be provided over a single high performance integrated network.

Voice, data, and video services are moving towards a single network
platform. The digitization of information, along with the trend toward packing
more and more information, is helping to enable this convergence of multiple
services onto a single network platform. The convergence offers benefits to
both the service provider and the user/consumer.

Customers can enjoy the "one-stop-shopping" they prefer and the
associated cost efficiencies, as well as new services. For example, a single
incoming call could traverse a range of delivery options on an integrated
network–perhaps trying a home location, a business location and a wireless
location followed by a message option–to find a customer.

Business customers might utilize network capacity to support different
applications at different times of the day. Service providers realize cost
efficiencies associated with sharing facilities and combining support
functions, and with new service features that produce new revenues. Amit here
points out that Cisco has actually demonstrated that IP can be the underlying
protocol carrying different types of information (voice, video and data) which
has fuelled tremendous growth in development of multi-service applications- in
turn resulting in a exponential upsurge in traffic.

• The third biggest development happening is the enabling of the mobile
  technology with IP. With the handheld devices now being IP enabled, they
  open up a plethora of innovative network enabled applications. Since the
  potential number of hand held devices is much higher than the traditional
  computing devices which were hitherto IP enabled, IP enabled handheld
  wireless devices pose challenges in the areas of identification (addressability),
  security and the type of content that can be downloaded on them on the
  network infrastructure.

The addressability challenge is fuelling the IPV6 evolution,
whereas the size of these devices and their limited graphic capabilities as well
as the screen size is forcing the network to be ‘intelligent’ in handling
content. In other words the network needs to be ‘device aware’ to determine
the content to be downloaded from a requested location. So in brief, content
transfer will happen in an intelligent fashion on an IP network based on the
geography, volumes, type of content and other parameters.

• Adoption of the IPV6 is expected to grow exponentially as the number of
  Internet connected mobile devices increase.

  There will be a gradual
  evolution from an IPV4 to an IPV6. However, for many years to come there
  will be an inter working between IPV4 and IPV6 as there is a need for
  seamless integration for applications developed for IPv4 to continue to work
  with IPV6.

• The top two layers of the classic ISO seven-layer model are getting
  crowded. Web services in themselves include half a dozen protocols that
  interact in complicated ways, all theoretically on the top layer. The bottom
  layers of the Internet, while they evolve in fruitful ways, seem to have
  well-defined roles. Seemingly though, the upper layers show more volcanic
  activity. At some point, we may see numerous protocols on the upper layers,
  which innovators are working, actually interoperating and enhancing each
  other.
• An area that is most crucial in the networking space is security from a
  business as well as an end-user perspective.
• There is considerable work
  happening in the area of security. One very important area is enabling
  security in the different layers of the ISO OSI protocol stack.

Another noticeable trend is in the area of encryption
technologies and the speed at which these encryptions can be done.

These
technologies are still in the pipeline, some already developed and some yet to
be developed. Amit here points out that Cisco is doing pioneering work in
security at the IP layer itself with great future implications. For instance the
Virtual Private Network deployment is based on the framework of tunneling and
encryption technologies where IP security has a key role to play.

• The optical technology is a strategic area in networking as far as the
  future in networking is concerned. As the end-users and the corporate users
  have more and more bandwidth at their disposal, consequently the core of the
  network will have to serve up both in terms of transport and switching. Here
  the optical technology will have a leading edge.

Future Trends for India

According to Amit, "India has a unique opportunity to
leap forward". For this he feels, "there needs to be a regulatory
framework in place for the deployment of multi-service applications at end-user
locations and at business centers.

Furthermore he says, "there’s a need
for a networking infrastructure to be made available to the masses."
"Once this happens, there will be an equal opportunity created which will
give India a chance to leap one step ahead of others, not only in business but
in all other spheres as well", he opines.

In conclusion, the networking trends are showing a
mind-boggling progression towards a more networked and intelligent world.
However our journey to this world has many a stumbling blocks to overcome

CNS