It always amazes me when new technology is released that it will be the future of computing and all other older methodologies and architectures will become obsolete. It is true that certain networking topologies have gone away due to advances but in reality, most experience a long and sometimes painful death. When I started working in networking the big debate was centralized networks or de-centralized networks. As with any changes in architecture the big question was around the customer experience. Bringing networking services closer to the customer allowed for faster and more reliable access to services running on those servers. This led to many de-centralized networks. As communication technology advanced, organizations realized that bringing networking to a centralized datacenter would save costs on under-utilized networking resources and staff time to resolve issues. It also provided better security controls as physical access could be regulated. Eventually though data centers landscapes were filling up. Power demands, floor space for racks, and cooling demands started to max out their capacity. Along come VMs, the future of computing. True enough it is rare that I don’t find VM’s somewhere in an organizations network, but rarely do you not find other technologies still running there as well. Mainframes and AS400 Unix servers are still going strong. New technology is usually revolutionary, but the end result is almost always a mixture of old and new. Next comes cloud, then containers, and more recently serverless computing. With the sands of technology constantly shifting, how can an organization gain control and be prepared for the future and manage the technology in the present?
In my opinion there are a few keys to success that can be deployed that will allow for not only managing current technology, but also to prepare you for future advancements. Below is a short list of things to think about:
- Looking to use open-source solutions is a great idea. Having the ability to adapt code you are using to take advantage of the advances in technology is critical.
- Build architecture that can span different network topologies. Don’t lock into a single cloud solution or dedicate all your development to all containers or serverless computing. Hedging your bets with a multi-tech strategy is a great idea.
- When adopting new technology, make sure you look deeper into the implications. A good example is serverless computing. Sure, it is great to only pay for compute you use as you use it, but when there are any problems with the code troubleshooting and fixing takes more time as local duplication is many times not possible.
- Look for a solution to act as a Control Plane for your infrastructure. Serverless, containers, VM’s all require backend infrastructure. Insights around security, cost control, usage, and deployments are critical. Leverage solutions like Quali’s Torque to help automate and orchestrate the necessary infrastructure deployments.
It is evident when you look around that organizations will always be faced with marrying older technology with new advances. Having the correct tools to do this effectively and securely will be the key to being able to leverage the new while maintaining the old.
Hopefully this article at least gave you something to think about. Additional content can be found at my site trentkillpack.com.
