Top 10: why your cloud is only as good as your network (page 2 of 2)

On-demand change in performance parameters such as bandwidth scalability will be accomplished through high-level software interfaces into the network control planes, not by an operator using a command line interface to the equipment. This performance-on-demand will be triggered at the application level, ensuring that the adjustments to the network and to the cloud meet the business requirements.

7 - The cloud network needs to scale dynamically

A north-south traffic flow is user-to-machine through a tiered IP network architecture. This reflects a client/server model and is exercised in the cloud for SaaS-type applications where the application is simply moved from the in-house data centre to the cloud provider data centre server. East-West traffic flows are machine-to-machine within, and increasingly between, data centres.

Such traffic has much more stringent quality-of-service requirements. In the near future, we'll see at least an order of magnitude more East-West data workloads driven by applications like storage synchronisation, inter-data centre storage virtualisation and virtual machine migrations. This means the cloud network needs to be designed for performance to meet the traffic flow change and intensity challenges of the future.

8 - You need a network that can move a large amount of data in a short amount of time

You need a flatter Layer 0/1/2 network architecture between data centres that delivers better scalability, latency and deterministic performance. With this architecture, the network won't be a bottleneck when you need it the most, and it will deliver the lowest cost per bit throughput.

9 - Stuff happens, so you need to plan for the worst

Whether you use the cloud as a fail-safe to on-premises operations or as your primary IT resource, you need to be prepared for a worse-case scenario such as a natural disaster or unexpected peaks in traffic. You or your cloud provider may need to move hundreds of your virtual machines and/or data stores from the current data centre to another data centre in the cloud — potentially alongside those of many other enterprises.

To move these workloads in time to avoid or recover from disaster, without damaging your business, you'll need a network that can rapidly add and reallocate capacity to your Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery data centre.

10 - A virtual data centre architecture — a Data Centre Without Walls — means cost savings and operational efficiency

The 'Data Centre Without Walls' concept describes an architecture that creates a multi-data centre, hybrid cloud environment able to function as a set of virtual data centres from a common resource pool to address any magnitude of workload demand and offer seamless workflow movement. Enterprises will want to access cloud resources anywhere, anytime.

Service Providers will want to offer cloud services differentiated by state-of-the-art, programmable network access, and economies of scale that leverage their data centre footprints. Cloud Providers will handle uncertain demand requirements and failover by more efficiently allocating workloads across multiple data centres. The cloud backbone network is the critical link for providing cost-effective scalability, security, and on-demand services that enable the virtual data centre.