Data centers are undergoing a major transition toward a smarter, more dynamic infrastructure. More flexible IT architectures are emerging to address the demands of current business applications and new areas, such as cloud computing, multitenancy, bring your own device (BYOD), big data, and analytics.

As part of the dynamic infrastructure trend, the role of data center networks is also changing. It is causing businesses to re-evaluate their current networks, which were never designed to handle modern workloads and applications. In light of these changes, the networking industry is experiencing a major discontinuity.

The IBM® viewpoint is that the most cost-effective approach to building a best-of-breed data center network is based on open industry standards that are supported by multiple vendors. An open data center with an interoperable network delivers noticeable benefits:

• Scales to tens of thousands of virtual machines, reducing capital and operating expense 15 - 25 percent
• Optimizes utilization by virtualizing network resources and moving virtual machines freely within and between data centers
• Integrates pre-optimized solutions seamlessly with the rest of your data center
• Automates network provisioning, management, and troubleshooting so that it becomes more agile and less error prone
• Creates flatter, application-aware networks that need to be wired once

This IBM Redbooks® Point-of-View publication describes the technologies that can transform the data center network into an open data center network that can create business value.

Transforming the data center network to create business value

The next-generation data center fabric

A smarter data center infrastructure by using ODIN

Which platform to choose

Next steps: How IBM can help