It could be argued that 2013 was the year of hype – whether it be around software-defined networking (SDN), flash storage, the Internet of Things (IoT) or any number of other networking and storage trends. Organizations from diverse sectors have realized the benefits they can reap with high-capacity, high-speed networking that coincides with virtualized workloads and the abilities to transfer large volumes of data, but will we see these revelations translate to actions and further investment? Shaun Walsh, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development, Emulex, believes the answer is yes.
2014 will serve as a critical transitional year for end users, vendors and the industry as a whole, where the hottest trends we saw in 2013 will be further expanded upon. We are at the beginning of a seismic shift in storage and networking capabilities, but 2014 is where we should see these visions become reality. Here are Emulex’s top 10 predictions to keep an eye on.
Click through for the hottest storage and networking trends expected in 2014, as identified by Emulex.
Prediction #1: The Internet of Things will be a key driver of network bandwidth, growing by 5x in 2014 alone, and will require networks to adapt dynamically to network packet size, software-defined networking and latency requirements. This is why smart infrastructure and advanced 100 percent network monitoring/capture capabilities will be required to deliver security and performance for rapidly evolving machine-to-machine workloads and meet quality of service demands.
Prediction #2: Big Data analytics will be used in mainstream businesses and will forever change processes like logistics management, supply chain management, and currency transactions, replacing traditional data warehousing.
Prediction #3: This is the year software-defined gets defined. Emerging from its heritage in virtualization, it will finally move from science project to early deployment phase.
Prediction #4: 2014 will be the crossover year when more servers will be shipped to the cloud than to the enterprise.
Prediction #5: Flash storage adoption will be the single most important factor in accelerating applications and driving network latency demands.
Prediction #6: 2014 is the year that the 40GbE transition begins in the enterprise.
Prediction #7: More storage will be moved over ethernet than fibre channel.
Prediction #8: 2014 will be the transitional year when more corporate access is gained via mobile devices versus laptops or PCs.
Prediction #9: In 2014, network visibility will become one of the fundamental requirements for scaling and securing networks.
Prediction #10: Managing and understanding security and privacy issues will become a top priority for individuals as they take control of their own data security and privacy. Individuals will become responsible for creating their own set of firewalls across all forms of communication to leverage and protect themselves against this universal addressability.
