The road to 10G migration and beyond
Graeme Stoker reviews the migration to faster 10G networking over the past 10 years
Stoker: Early migration to 10G paid off
Many happy returns! Of course, in our industry a 'return' has a number of meanings. ‘Return loss’ springs to mind, as does ‘return to site’, but in the current economic climate, ‘return on investment’ (RoI) seems most apt.
Should the scarcer money available go into new software? Or new network cabling? New switches, or a new fibre link?
It’s worth looking back to see how the decision to migrate to 10G turned out for early adopters. For some UK businesses, it continues to pay dividends and looks good for the next 15 years.
In 2002, the category 7 Class F standard was ratified and a few manufacturers began marketing their connector interfaces. Some solutions were available from as early as 1999.
At that time, the performance of these next-generation cabling systems was ground-breaking, especially since most of the UK market was still trying to make the best of category 5e cabling.
It is important to demonstrate technical competence, product performance, application to real-world requirements against predictions of future trends and an ability to meet client expectations.
The category 7 end users of 10 years ago would today still be covered by a solid system application assurance warranty from the manufacturer and could adopt towards 10G Ethernet.
Knowing that 10G networks (both category 7 and 6a) are sold and installed today to last at least 10 years, the early adopters of category 7 technology back in 1999 or even 2002 know their network can be running applications 20 or more years after the original installation. In a world where the future seems so uncertain, this must feel like the cleverest of investment decisions.
We can apply this concept to network cabling investment and end user RoI if we look at the annualised cost per network outlet over the total cabling lifecycle.
Installed channel costs fall below today’s installed category 5e prices. Obviously category 7/7a and 6a networks will cost more on day one, but if the initial installation cost is spread over 10, 15 or 20 years, the cost per outlet goes down.
When IT network managers need to spend wisely, RoI and network life cycle must be a bigger consideration.
For those who want to embrace future-facing technology, but need an extra value argument for this year’s budget, cable-sharing can help.
Category 7/7a can be installed to run several low-bandwidth applications now with the future option to employ it for fewer hungrier applications, without re-cabling. Because each pair is individually shielded, it will carry multiple media types through the same cable.
This offers bandwidth flexibility. For example, bringing four pairs of 10G Gigabit Ethernet or two pairs of 10/100 Ethernet or a single pair for voice or video applications to the desk.
The early adopters of 10G-capable cabling have had the benefit of its performance for up to 10 years. They haven’t had to re-cable in that time because their demands overtook their infrastructure. They haven’t had that expense or disruption.
Their choice has been cheaper over its lifetime, compared with the ubiquitous category 5e. And they received a warrantied system that may continue to perform for years.
Category 6a or 7/7a are the most advanced systems around, so for maximum lifetime value they continue to be a good investment.
Graeme Stoker is EMEA marketing manager at Siemon
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