GigaOm Key Criteria for Evaluating Data Center Switching Solutionsv4.0

An Evaluation Guide for Technology Decision-Makers

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Data Center Switching Sector Brief
  3. Decision Criteria Analysis
  4. Analyst’s Outlook
  5. About Andrew Green

1. Executive Summary

A decade ago, data centers were much smaller and hosted large, monolithic applications deployed using the classic client-server model. This architecture, characterized by a core-distribution-access framework, efficiently managed the north-south data flows, as applications resided on a single server that communicated with clients outside the data center.

Today, however, applications are built using microservices, which run on different servers within the data center. These microservices interact with each other to achieve the functionality of the wider application, thus requiring more east-west traffic than their monolithic predecessors. This dynamic necessitates a change in data center architecture: namely, the move to leaf-spine deployments with two switching layers.

Another change gaining momentum in the data center switching space is the use of disaggregated solutions. These solutions substitute integrated hardware and software provided by a single vendor with bare-metal hardware appliances and separate network operating systems (NOSs).

This approach allows data center operators more flexibility and control over the networking infrastructure. While we don’t expect to see all data center infrastructure shifting toward disaggregated solutions overnight, vendors exclusively offering integrated solutions risk being left behind.

As architecture models evolve and disaggregated solutions become more common, demand for data is increasing and data center operations are being consolidated, so scalability emerges as a crucial factor for any solution. In this context, scalability is highly dependent on the way vendors support design, deployment, and operation activities.

Intelligence and automation around activities for Day 0, 1, 2, and beyond will differentiate the market between leading vendors and laggards. A highly scalable data center solution can support features such as one-touch deployments, AI-based network troubleshooting and diagnostics, and batch policy configurations.

Business Imperative

Data center computing power can be scaled only in alignment with the available networking infrastructure. Regardless of whether the ingress and egress traffic remains consistent or exhibits a linear increase, modern applications rely on east-west traffic patterns. Supporting these patterns requires a network infrastructure that is equipped to scale accordingly. This is applicable to organizations that either sell infrastructure services or operate workloads in their on-premises data centers.

Sector Adoption Score

To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of deploying a data center switching solution, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of a data center switching solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 1) of 3.8 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This indicates that a data center switching solution is a credible candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for data center switching are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.

Key Criteria for Evaluating Data Center Switching Solutions

Sector Adoption Score

1.0

Deters
Adoption

Discourages
Adoption

Merits
Consideration

Encourages
Adoption

Compels
Adoption

Figure 1. Sector Adoption Score for Data Center Switching

This is the fourth year that GigaOm has reported on the data center switching space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Key Criteria report highlights the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) for selecting an effective data center switching solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those decision criteria. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading data center switching offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.

GIGAOM KEY CRITERIA AND RADAR REPORTS

The GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a detailed decision framework for IT and executive leadership assessing enterprise technologies. Each report defines relevant functional and nonfunctional aspects of solutions in a sector. The Key Criteria report informs the GigaOm Radar report, which provides a forward-looking assessment of vendor solutions in the sector.