Changing application environments are creating new demands on the IT infrastructure that supports them. With application workloads deployed across a mix of virtualized and nonvirtualized server and storage infrastructure, you require a network infrastructure that provides consistent connectivity, security, and visibility across a range of bare-metal, virtualized, and cloud computing environments. For example:

- Application instances are created dynamically, so provisioning, modification, and removal of application network connectivity also need to be dynamic.
- Business units demand accelerated application deployments, so IT departments must provide a shared IT infrastructure that addresses time-to-market needs and provides a positive return on investment (ROI).
- When organizations deploy a mix of custom, open-source, and off-the-shelf commercial applications, IT departments must manage security and quality of service (QoS) for environments that support multitenancy.
- Applications are transitioning to a less monolithic, scale-out, multinode model. The IT infrastructure that supports this model must scale with the speed of business and support both 1, 10, 25, 40, 50 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.