Software Defined Networking, Data Centre and Infrastructure
Here is a block diagram showing the functional areas in private & public cloud that I use when working with clients. I’m often explaining the full picture of cloud building especially in relation to how the network can be orchestrated to fully accelerate the cloud process. I hope you find it useful.
The future of private infrastructure ownership is moving to a new model combines the old with the new that I describe as “dolls and babies” where the major transformation in infrastructure ownership is the transition from having babies to owning dolls. Infrastructure as Babies Enterprises buy infrastructure like people have babies. It takes months to […]
Can the Internet be the “Cloud Network” ? If so, when could the transition happen (if it hasn’t started already) ?
Supposition/Hypothesis As a technology, the Internet has strikingly similar properties to sharing Compute and Storage as ‘Cloud’. A large pool of resource that can be used or shared between many parties. The total pool of resource is dynamically allocated. Internet bandwidth is shared between all users and access is determined by bandwidth purchased at the network edge
No matter how hard the clouderati click the heels of their brogues together and repeat “public cloud is better” , the simple fact is that most companies have large amounts of IT infrastructure that works just fine and is profitable. To make matters worse, the cost of transformation exceeds the potential financial return while creating […]
I was eating the last of my toast as I sat down into the driver seat of my “CloudCar”. Customer visit at 09:30am. As I slipped my smartphone into the cradle, the dashboard screen came to life and opened the NavSat app with an error message that my maps were out of date and would I like to download the latest files. “Why not”, I thought ? I confirmed and the download started. Except that the data plan on the onboard 4G LTE connection had reached it’s data cap. The kids had been watching video on the way to the beach and used it up. So I confirmed the purchase of some extra bandwidth (I chose the middle plan because I always do), went back to the NavSat and restarted the updates.
People seems love hearing about big technology companies like Google and Amazon for inspiration and ideas about infrastructure and operations. This is a bad idea. Lets say that you like baking your own bread and you want to improve your technique. Where do you go ? Lets abuse some metaphors in Small, Medium and Factory-sized IT.
Many people are predicting that networking will become a heavily commoditised with cheap white box hardware in the next few years. But I don’t believe commoditisation will happen the way that most people expect. So in this article I’m working through different ideas and concepts on product pricing and perceived value of networking as a whole. I would welcome discussion on this, I’m not completely confident that I’ve got my ideas locked down here. See you in the comments !
When you are enter a discussion about Cloud Computing with legacy IT people, you often (always) tell the story of handling IT infrastructure with the “Cattle vs Kittens”. The story highlights the difference of ITIL managed services vs Cloud Service and how cloud applications are managed. Kittens are pets. Each cute little kitten has a […]
This article from Mike Fratto at Current Analysis is great observation. Here is my view on the core topic: Networking vendors need to embrace homogeneity—that’s my first bit of advice—and present the most homogenous network to the virtual environment they can. By being homogenous, enterprises can swap out networking with far less disruption than having […]
I woke up at three o’clock this morning with a thought racing around my brain – am I building a Hosting Cathedral or Cloud Bazaar ? My data centre is like a cathedral – regimented rows of seats, full of disciplined and controlled resources all looking towards the technical priests for inspiration and direction. Each […]
