Corporate data center infrastructures must evolve. Mobility, real-time applications and virtualization have created new demands that yesterday’s data center architectures aren’t equipped to handle.

Users need anytime, anywhere access to rich-media applications from smartphones, tablets and other devices – and they need it now.

Related story: “Very Strong” is again the recent 2015 assessment from Current Analysis of the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Data Center Switching Infrastructure. Read why ALE has been ahead of the class since their introduction of Application Fluent Networks. Read summary highlights and access the complete Current Analysis Report here.

Automate Your Network

The next critical phase in network evolution is automation of the data center network. Server virtualization has enabled rapid application deployment and increased movement of applications between virtualized servers or data centers. Traditional networks are not designed to handle this, causing poor application performance and latency as networks and administrators adapt to virtualized internal changes. Automation at the network control layer eliminates latency and optimizes application delivery.

Data Center Networks Must Be Intelligent

Application Fluent Networks automatically react to the dynamic requirements of virtualized workloads, such as following virtual machine (VM) movement. Because they are application aware, quality of service (QoS) is automatically adjusted for application flows within the data center and across the network. Discover how Application Fluent Networking is the first stage of software defined networking (SDN).

For larger enterprises, application fluency enables the corporate data center to become a multi-site private cloud by extending layer-2 connectivity between multiple data center sites. Hybrid cloud models are also supported, so public cloud-based services can be seamlessly delivered on the corporate network.

For Mid-sized Data Centers – No Chassis Required

Advanced mesh architecture allows top-of-rack switches to be directly connected together. This means small and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from a full-featured fabric with built-in automated virtual machine mobility. The mesh is less complex, highly scalable and delivers unmatched performance at a fraction of the cost.

The Road to SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) makes networks adaptable to applications, providing automation at the network level that parallels the automation and flexibility at the server level. SDN bridges the gap between application control and network control elements, optimizing application delivery and performance across the entire data center network and the converged campus LAN.