A March 2011 Frost & Sullivan report points to data growth as a key issue facing IT leaders.  IT leaders must address the growing demand for enterprise data storage in addition to regulatory compliance and good practice data retention and backup programs.  The Frost & Sullivan report indicates that enterprise data storage needs are increasing by 40 percent per year.  Check out these data storage statistics from sources listed in the Frost & Sullivan report:

• Worldwide data is doubling every 18-36 months
• By 2013 the amount of data flowing over the Internet will exceed 667 Petabytes annually

Even in a wireless environment, network cabling installation is important—not only for the devices but also the data that is transferred to and from the wired and wireless networks. Datatrend experts have identified five key cabling installation areas to consider when rolling out your wireless network.

1.       Secure your network. Consider a DMZ (also known as a perimeter network) to protect your wired LAN but understand what users will be doing on the DMZ.  For large file transfers, a DMZ and a wired Ethernet can significantly improve transfer speeds, but security can be compromised despite the fact that a DMZ is designed to provide an additional layer of security.  Consider additional wireless security—authentication and encryption schemes (See point #3).  If you’re providing guests wired access, then consider a designated Ethernet guest port that bypasses the corporate LAN and routes to a guest LAN using authentication.

Managing the performance and quality of service provided by your business applications can be complicated  by application silos, each with its own myopic view of the architecture on which it runs – whether physical or virtual. With limited visibility to application dependency, it becomes even more difficult to align your business applications to business needs.  As a result, costs can increase and service levels could be compromised.