When planning to upgrade transmission speeds, data center network administrators must plan for far more than new hardware. In several ways, a network speed upgrade can ripple through the entire data center ecosystem. This discussion covers the considerations that planners should make when mapping out a network speed increase. It provides multiple perspectives on how a high-speed migration impacts different systems, from media to supporting hardware, pathways, airflow, cooling and others. This detailed examination of an upgrade plan covers the topics that come to mind readily as well as those you may not have thought about.