xii Software Networks
I.2. The third revolution
The third revolution, which is our focus in this book, pertains to the
move from hardware-based mode to software-based mode. This
transition is taking place because of virtualization, whereby physical
networking equipment is replaced by software fulfilling the same
function.
Let us take a look at the various elements which are creating a new
generation of networks. To begin with, we can cite the Cloud. The
Cloud is a set of resources which, instead of being held at the premises
of a particular company or individual, are hosted on the Internet. The
resources are de-localized, and brought together in resource centers,
known as datacenters.
The reasons for the Cloud’s creation stem from the low degree
of use of server resources worldwide: only 10% of servers’
capacities is actually being used. This low value derived from the
fact that servers are hardly used at all at night-time, and see
relatively little use outside of peak hours, which represent no more
than 4-5 hours each day. In addition, the relatively-low cost of
hardware meant that, generally, servers were greatly oversized.
Another factor which needs to be taken into account is the rising
cost of personnel to manage and control the resources. In order to
optimize the cost both of resources and engineers, those resources
need to be shared. The purpose of Clouds is to facilitate such
sharing in an efficient manner.
Figure I.3 shows the growth of the public Cloud services market.
Certainly, that growth is impressive, but in the final analysis, it is
relatively low in comparison to what it could have been if there were
no problems of security. Indeed, as the security of the data uploaded to
such systems is rather lax, there has been a massive increase in private
Clouds, taking the place of public Cloud services. In Chapter 6, we
shall examine the advances made in terms of security, with the advent
of secure Clouds.
www.it-ebooks.info
I.2. The third revolution
The third revolution, which is our focus in this book, pertains to the
move from hardware-based mode to software-based mode. This
transition is taking place because of virtualization, whereby physical
networking equipment is replaced by software fulfilling the same
function.
Let us take a look at the various elements which are creating a new
generation of networks. To begin with, we can cite the Cloud. The
Cloud is a set of resources which, instead of being held at the premises
of a particular company or individual, are hosted on the Internet. The
resources are de-localized, and brought together in resource centers,
known as datacenters.
The reasons for the Cloud’s creation stem from the low degree
of use of server resources worldwide: only 10% of servers’
capacities is actually being used. This low value derived from the
fact that servers are hardly used at all at night-time, and see
relatively little use outside of peak hours, which represent no more
than 4-5 hours each day. In addition, the relatively-low cost of
hardware meant that, generally, servers were greatly oversized.
Another factor which needs to be taken into account is the rising
cost of personnel to manage and control the resources. In order to
optimize the cost both of resources and engineers, those resources
need to be shared. The purpose of Clouds is to facilitate such
sharing in an efficient manner.
Figure I.3 shows the growth of the public Cloud services market.
Certainly, that growth is impressive, but in the final analysis, it is
relatively low in comparison to what it could have been if there were
no problems of security. Indeed, as the security of the data uploaded to
such systems is rather lax, there has been a massive increase in private
Clouds, taking the place of public Cloud services. In Chapter 6, we
shall examine the advances made in terms of security, with the advent
of secure Clouds.
www.it-ebooks.info