While in a pure VPN architecture, it is often possible to manage the traffic from Datacenters in such a way that critical applications get guaranteed performances and recreational ones become harmless to the business (see for example Ipanema's virtual ip|engine concept), this becomes per definition impossible with Cloud computing: the goal here is to relocate application servers to centers that enterprises do not want to control anymore.
The level of virtualization is such that in most cases it would be illusory and counter-productive to try knowing the physical location of servers and databases. The rise of the unified [VPN + Cloud] network places now the branch office at the center of the game, each branch being a small independent hub for its own traffic, would it remain inside the private network or go to the Cloud.
Features to be implemented in the branch are then:
- Deep understanding of application traffic, including encrypted Web flows that usually support applications that are delivered in SaaS (Software as a Service) mode;
- Ability to adapt in real-time the resource allocation to the instantaneous demand, according to the business criticality and the technical requirements of each of the active applications;
- For multi-homed branches, dynamic network load-sharing to maximize application performance and availability (selection of the most appropriate access) in the one hand, and cost reduction (optimized resource usage) on the other hand.
Of course, all of this has to be performed in a fully automated manner, in order to relieve the technical teams from painful operational duty. Finally, the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of such a system must remain marginal compared to the cost of the application services it is in charge to guarantee the performance over the unified [VPN + Cloud] network.
In our mind, there is a way for enterprises to fulfill simultaneously all these conditions and get the performance guarantees they seek: the alliance of the WAN Governance approach and its top-down drive of application performance from a applications SLAs, with the ability of Autonomic Networking to use such objectives to automatically adapt to dynamic traffic demand and varying network conditions.
No doubt [VPN + Cloud] computing and Anything-as-a-Service will be increasingly important to the enterprise's performances. Let's bring them the unique verdict they deserve: lifelong performance guarantee!
Illustration: Paul Newman in Sydney Lumet's film "The Verdict", on 1982.
That was an inspiring post,
Keep up the good work,
Thanks for bringing this up
Posted by: software developers | 12/18/2009 at 10:28 AM