Managing a network used to be a comparatively simple affair, bur with the rise of mobile computing and video, demand for network bandwidth has soared in recent years. The challenge is twofold: Demand for bandwidth increased unevenly, and the number of networking options MSPs will have to contend with in the future also has increased.

In addition to the 10G and 40G Ethernet options that most organizations are expected to migrate to in the years ahead, there now are 25G and 50G Ethernet options, which are viewed as more natural complements to the 100G Ethernet switches that now sit at the top of the network switch hierarchy these days.

To address all that complexity, Dell has rolled out a Dell Networking C9010 Network Director campus switch that applies the multi-rate capabilities of switches in the data center to switches at the edge of the network.

Sean Michaud, director of Product Management in the Dell Networking Group, said C9010 represents the first time that multi-rate capabilities, which make it simpler to apply 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G and 100 G Ethernet switches in concert using campus switches. The end goal, said Michaud, is to make it simpler for organizations to segment usage of network bandwidth based on where they needed vs. trying to force a massive upgrade to a network all at once.

In addition to the C9010, Dell has also introduced a Dell Networking C1048P Rapid Access Node, which extends the reach of the C9010 Network Director by up to 4,000 additional virtual 1G Ethernet ports by connecting legacy network infrastructure to the C9010 via power over Ethernet (PoE) connections. All told, Dell is proving access to 4.8TB of throughput in an 8RU C9010 chassis, Michaud said.

While it’s clear that Dell is getting more aggressive in the networking space, the most significant aspect of this for MSPs is that it outlines an eventual migration to 100G Ethernet that MSPs can pretty much implement at their own pace. There’s no doubt that other networking vendors will develop similar architectures. In the meantime, the days when MSPs had to convince customers to upgrade their entire network infrastructure to deliver additional services are coming to a close. In its place will be a more a more natural segmentation of network traffic that, while still needing to be managed, provides a much less disruptive way to increase network capacity in stages over an extended period of time.