E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N

Enterprises want to boost data centre performance , efficiency and scalability to meet the demands of cloud , 5G , AI , IoT and Industry 4.0 application workloads . But many fear that these changes could put their mission-critical operations at risk .

We believe that modern , open and automated data centre networking approaches offer the best way for enterprises to keep up with new demands and keep their mission-critical operations up and running .

By implementing these approaches , enterprises can build next-generation data centre fabrics that scale easily and flexibly while providing much greater efficiency and resiliency . They will give enterprises freedom to innovate with confidence .

The cornerstone of a next-generation data centre fabric is a truly open Linuxbased network operating system ( NOS ). To efficiently handle new application workloads and preserve mission-critical operations , the NOS must take data centre agility and flexibility to new heights through features such as :

• A programmable cloud-native design

• Robust and field-proven IP stack with recognized stability , interoperability and security

• Open and scalable telemetry interface

• Model-driven management to support complete openness and a fully customisable and programmable command line interface

• An unmodified Linux kernel that can be leveraged by new , customdesigned applications

• Microservices that support hitless upgrades and resilient networking

• Standards-based architecture for network redundancy and dual-homing with vendor interoperability

An advanced network automation toolkit can help enterprises take full advantage of these capabilities to support innovation without risking critical operations .

Tools that use open frameworks to enable programmability and intent-based automation can make it easy to meet new demands , minimise human errors , respond to disruption and increase efficiency at every phase of the data centre fabric lifecycle .

A solution that provides a Digital Twin of the data centre fabric reduces risk by allowing network teams to safely test potentially disruptive changes before applying them to the live network .

Enterprises also need high-performance hardware that can seamlessly handle the workloads created by 5G , Industry 4.0 and AI applications . An ideal solution will provide platforms that enable network teams to implement modern , massively scalable and highly reliable data centre switching architectures . Platforms that use the same hardware and software design and come in different form factors and configurations will provide maximum flexibility to support leaf / spine , spine and superspine applications . They should offer high capacity , a variety of port speeds and robust switching , routing , QoS , model-driven management , telemetry and security capabilities .

With modern data centre fabrics built on a fully open NOS , advanced automation tools and high-performance hardware , enterprise network teams will be well equipped to ensure uninterrupted mission-critical operations as they work to unlock the benefits of Digital Transformation and distributed clouds .

DATA CENTRE FABRIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER , NOKIA

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