Next Generation Enterprise Campus Networks

Enterprise networks are no longer confined to simple client-server operations and application workloads, managed in-house. Internet connectivity, mobile workforces, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, social media integration, the Cloud and Big Data analytics are all contributing to an environment that demands greater versatility and efficiency from the enterprise campus.

 

In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the aspects and influences driving corporate network infrastructure and architectures into the next generation.

Expanding the Scope of the Enterprise

A “next generation” enterprise network extends beyond the LAN or on-site data centre to include the entire corporate campus, remote sites, branch offices, home-based and mobile workers, all devices covered under BYOD policies, as well as systems operated by select groups of trusted partners, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders who may be granted network privileges.

 

Today’s campus networks serve as platforms for users to manipulate data and interact with applications – and administrators are called upon to ensure that they remain secure, consistently available, and flexible enough to accommodate the needs not only of a user base that may be spread over multiple locations and accessing the network from a multitude of devices, but also able to adapt to the changing conditions of markets, compliance regimes, and the enterprise environment.

Ensuring the Availability of Applications

Productivity is essential to the success and survival of an enterprise, and instrumental to maintaining this is ensuring continuous and trouble-free access to the software and applications needed by an organisation’s workforce and working processes.

 

In the next generation network environment, this need extends to providing access to office, communications, operational and security software to users on desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones or even wearable devices – often with a mix of wired and wireless connections, WiFi, and mobile.

 

With voice and video data also an increasing part of network activity, there’s often a need for administrators to configure connections and manage traffic on a per-application basis.

Unified Wireless

Local Area Networks (LANs) have traditionally been set up using physically wired connections. As mobile devices emerged and required access to corporate networks, wireless connections for them were often tacked onto the LAN pretty much as an afterthought. But with the trend now firmly for increased numbers of mobile devices, there’s a demand for high speed wireless connections to be integrated with the provision of wired ones, from the outset.

 

With the adoption of the 802.11ac standard, WiFi speeds up to a maximum of 6.9Gbps are available, using 8 spatial streams and 160MHz channels. So the needs of mobile network users are being met through increasing connectivity rates.

 

And the management of these wireless and wired resources is being merged into unified consoles. Software-Defined Networking or SDN may have an increasing hand in this, allowing virtualisation to take a major role in flexibly managing and provisioning networks, applications, and services.

Integrating with The Cloud

The traditional enterprise campus comprises a network of manual systems and controls, with layers of VLANS, switches, and security tools. Each of these requires configuration, monitoring and management – and with organisations spanning multiple branch offices and geographical locations, the management and administrative overhead can be immense. And with so many components to manage, there’s the very real risk of human errors, lapses, and security gaps.

 

For this reason, next generation campus networks are looking to the cloud and its resources, to provide distributed infrastructures, the virtualisation of multiple functions into single devices, flexibility and scaling, and centralised management.

Optimising Wide Area Networks

Branch offices, geographical dispersal, BYOD and the mobile workforce require users of next gen campus networks to have access to cloud resources, Software as a Service (SaaS), virtual desktops and the like. Bandwidth-intensive activities such as video streaming and voice transmission place additional strain on Wide Area Network (WAN) connections.

 

To consolidate the provision of network services and speed up connections, physical and virtual appliances are being deployed as WAN optimisation controllers. These are available from commercial vendors and as open source, and WAN optimisation may be built into Software-Defined Networks.

Controllers: Reducing the Management Load

The management and operations of the next generation campus network gain from the use of controllers, which not only make the administrator’s life much easier, but also streamline the process of integrating applications with the network – especially with a combination of wired and wireless.

 

In the absence of a controller, the switches at each access layer of a LAN or wired network would otherwise need to be manually configured, for full integration.

Virtualization and SDN

Still in a process of evolution, SDN – with its ability to create a layer of abstraction for a network in a similar manner to hypervisors and virtual machines in servers and desktop applications – may hold the key to managing, scaling, and provisioning the growing number of services and applications which characterise the next generation campus network.

 

For production environments and corporate networks generally, SDN could be instrumental in automating the task of network management, and in speeding up the deployment and delivery of new applications and services. Technologies to watch out for include:

 

· OpenFlow: The open standard defining the communications interface between the control and infrastructure layers of a Software-Defined Network’s architecture.

 

· Virtual Network Overlays: These partition a physical network into multiple logical networks, allowing a control plane protocol such as OpenFlow to direct the flow of packets to their intended destinations.

 

· The OpenDaylight Project: An initiative overseen by the Linux Foundation, which looks to develop an open source framework for SDN that encompasses the control layer, the physical and virtual infrastructure layers, and the network application layer.

Ensuring Security

The deployment of mobile devices and wireless technologies in the next generation campus network introduces the potential for security breaches, spread over multiple points of entry. The target presented to malicious intruders extends to include individual devices (endpoints), login locations, and virtualised network resources hosted in the cloud or the corporate data centre.

 

The “Next-Generation Firewall” or NGFW seeks to provide an integrated security solution, combining the identification of applications, intrusion detection, and deep packet inspection under a comprehensive security policy. NGFW represents the convergence of dedicated Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and firewalls/VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), for larger scale enterprises. Small to medium-sized enterprises tend to favour Unified Threat Management or UTM solutions.

Future-Proofing

The next generation is still a work in progress. As SDN and virtualization technologies improve, networks must continue to adapt, so as to take them on board. Security, analytics, and provisioning will also become a concern as growing numbers of enterprise networks begin to integrate the smart and connected components from the Internet of Things (IoT).