Ever notice how certain fashions go out of style but then come back again, whether or not you want them to (I’m looking at you, parachute pants). Actually, the same thing happens in IT, as it’s not uncommon for a technology to fade away but then come back as a modified, upgraded version.
Clos networks are a great example of this. Developed by Bell Laboratories researcher, Charles Clos, the technology first appeared in the 1950s as a telephone switching method. As technology evolved, they faded away only to return in the 1990s as Ethernet switches were coming into play.
Now Clos networks have evolved again, enabling modern data center fabric architectures such as Brocade’s Virtual Cluster Switching (VCS) Fabric and Cisco’s FabricPath, to achieve high performance and resiliency. If you’d like to learn more about the evolution of Clos networks, cruise on over to my latest blog post on Network World, “Clos Networks: What’s Old is New Again.”
Fortunately, most technologies continue to get better each time they make an appearance. Now if only the fashion world could say the same.
