* Posts by Mat Mathews

1 publicly visible post • joined 29 Sep 2011

No more tiers for flatter networks

Mat Mathews

Are “Flatter” Networks Simply Rearranging the Deck Chairs?

Timothy, great article. You really hone in on the fundamental problem in data center networking today. The entire model is broken and it’s all too often glossed over because of how much the large incumbents have riding on it. The problem has been masked with solutions that continue making the infrastructure more and more complex and less responsive to current application needs. More protocols and abstractions don’t fix the problem; they just put off the real pain for another day. Until we start with a clean slate and understand that we can't build sensible networks in an OSI stack vacuum, we're just re-arranging the proverbial deck chairs. Here’s my take: http://www.plexxi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42:flatter-networks-&catid=14:blog&Itemid=27