Why there’s no stopping multi-gig switching
Luke Harley, Market Development Manager - Switch, says that multi-gig switches will play an even greater role as network capacity demands rise and the roll-out of WiFi 7 continues at full speed
Multi-gig switching may not be grabbing the headlines like AI, but it’s an important trend in networking right now. It’s happening and it matters – to both partners and end users.
As technology advances, the demand for higher bandwidth continues to grow. Applications such as video streaming, high-resolution video conferencing, cloud services, and data-intensive workloads require more bandwidth than what traditional Gigabit Ethernet can provide.
Without multi-gig we’d have a lot of problems right now, and many more in the months and years ahead. The relentless increase in demand for network bandwidth is being driven by the growth of cloud-based apps and services (public and private), by the use of video in content and for collaboration, by the need to monitor traffic for cyber threats, by increased use of data and analytics at the edge, and yes – you guessed it – by the growing use of AI.
Modern WiFi access points, particularly those supporting the latest standards like WiFi 7 (802.11be), benefit greatly from multi-gig connections. These access points can aggregate data from multiple users and devices, demanding higher data rates to ensure optimal performance
Staged upgrade
All that new traffic pouring onto the network from servers and virtual machines at the centre and from multiple connected endpoints (desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, security cameras, IP phones, smart devices and IoT sensors), has to find its way from A to B. It all needs to flow across the network and that puts more and more pressure on aggregation and core switches. And while these can be upgraded to higher capacities, transitioning from 1G or 2.5G devices is easy as there’s no need to replace existing cabling infrastructure.
With multi-gig switches, it’s possible to upgrade the network in stages, increasing capacity at the pinch points, while providing a measure of future-proofing. Bigger core switches may be needed eventually, but in the interim, the multi-gig switch is the perfect scalable solution and provides excellent value.
Get the traffic flowing
Many Zyxel Networks switches already provide multi-gigabit support and we’re about to launch the CX4800, our first switch delivering 10G/25G out to the network and 100G uplink speeds.
As capacity demands continue to grow, multi-gig switching simply makes sense. It’s what customers really need. If there is a bottleneck causing a problem, there will be a Zyxel Networks multi-gig switch that can open it up and get traffic flowing again.
