HPE Network Virtualization: The New Imperative in the Enterprise Data Center

Network Virtualization is the New Imperative in the Enterprise Data Center – and it’s no wonder why.

Big data, mobility and the need for agility are among the trends driving businesses of all sizes to adopt virtualized, cloud-based IT infrastructures. The new mobile workforce is demanding anytime, anywhere access to information that is critical to the performance of their jobs, and this demand is placing significant pressure on already burdened networks. To maintain productivity and competitiveness, as well as attracting and retaining the best talent, enterprises need efficient, cost-effective ways to deliver data and applications to both employee and customer users. And, when you add network virtualization to the overall IT environment, it works in conjunction with compute and storage virtualization to provide faster provisioning, improved resource utilization, and efficiencies across the entire data center.

What steps should a CIO or IT manager take to implement this new imperative in the data center?

In evaluating network virtualization solutions, enterprises should look for compatibility with existing infrastructure, including hypervisor(s), physical switches, and the preferred cloud management platform or orchestration stack; the richness of its networking features, including support for multi-tenancy; the openness of a solution; and the extended ecosystem of products it supports. In addition, the IT manager needs to understand how each cloud solution supports network virtualization within their preferred cloud management platform or orchestration stack. S/he should also take into account the richness of the networking features, including support for multitenancy; the “openness” of a solution; and, the extended ecosystem of products it supports.