Network services have always been the value added to business networks. There is a wide range of network services to help manage and control network bandwidth or transport. Examples of network services are quality of service, directory services, power over Ethernet, device configuration, device monitoring, billing, security, traffic shaping, route control, web caching,
Virtual Private Networks or VPNs and Virtual Local Area Networks or VLANs, etc.

Figure 1 illustrates the DIN smart workgroup network environment of network services closer to users. Workgroup networking is moving well beyond providing a simple connectivity service. In the smart workgroup, content aware filtering (the forwarding of packets based upon content location and IP destination address), network security, power over Ethernet, director services,
presence and quality of service are added on top of traditional connectivity services. These services enhance the user’s network experience by increasing response time for particular applications. For example, power over Ethernet provides a source of power for IP telephones and Wi-Fi access points, thus removing 120V power outlet requirements and increasing power access to those devices. Content filtering streamlines the path between content and user, thus reducing latency or delay and increasing the user’s networking experience.

Network services are usually delivered through proprietary protocols. Over the past several years the networking industry has come a long way in developing open industry standards for network services. For example, 802.1 p and q defines VLAN priority and tagging. The IEEE 802.1x standard provides port authentication. Power over Ethernet being defined in standard p802.3af
will offer power to IP phones, Wi-Fi access points and other network equipment. WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy, part of the 802.11 standard will soon to be replaced by the 802.11i standard for secure wireless LANs allowing Wi-Fi to be integrated into an enterprise network framework.

Simple Internet Protocol or SIP will deliver presence and other IP Telephony services. Directory services can be used in a multitude of ways. For example, assigning user profiles to a particular VLAN (guest, individuals, groups, employee, departments, etc) after they are authenticated against a data base (RADIUS) that uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol or LDAP directory services. All of these standards are to enable interoperability between different network equipment suppliers. The big difference now is that these services are being applied at network access.

Along with these standards have been multiple attempts to map network services to business objectives through network policy software. While the goal of policy-based software was admirable, in practice it was just too difficult and time consuming. This experiment with policy engines has bowed to a new approach to delivering network services. There are two parts to network services implementation: 1) centralized administration and operations and 2) distributed enforcement agents. The goal of network services is to modify traffic flows or differentiate how traffic flows are treated in the business network. The optimal location to modify network behavior is at the point of entry into the network. This point is as close to the user as possible or network ingress. In practical terms, network services can be enforced at the first workgroup switch or access point in which network traffic starts to flow. By enforcing network services at the workgroup level, networks will be more secure, quality of service can be assured and extended throughout the business network as traffic flows are aggregated or consolidated for common treatment.

The concept of classification of service before access to a system is common in our everyday experience. In some states vehicles are throttled at the access point to a highway system to reduce congestion. Before an automated teller machine or credit card transaction can be performed, security information is exchanged. Before boarding a

Posted 24 June 2003 at 7:05 pm under Lippis Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.