Moving to the Data Center over Ethernet (DCoE)

Virtualization is changing the makeup of the data center. The old rules, under which each application required a dedicated server and network interface, are gone. Storage, networking, and high-performance computing are converging at a virtual level despite remaining separate at a physical level. Pooling these compute, storage, and network resources facilitates rapid, dynamic service provisioning, enabling IT to repurpose connections on the fly. Moreover, a unified fabric – virtual and physical – reduces the expense and complexity of data centers, with operational savings driven by lower staff costs and capital savings. Ethernet is emerging as the unifying fabric of choice, although standards organizations are still working to address the key challenges of latency, loss, and performance at scale which are required to ensure that a converged infrastructure performs effectively for all data center applications. For most organization, the best approach is evolutionary. As the enterprise needs for agility and lowered TCO converge with standards-based resilience and reliability, we will eventually arrive at the “data center over Ethernet” (DCoE).