By now, we're so used to hearing about the Internet revolutionizing IT that it's tempting to yawn when yet another "innovation" is announced. But a recent announcement by Google is waking up more than a few jaded IT pros.
I'm talking about last week's keynote disclosure by Urs Hölzle, SVP of technical infrastructure at Google, during the
Open Networking Summit conference in Santa Clara, Calif.
By now, the basic points made by Hölzle have been rehashed in many blogs, news stories, and articles. The gist is that Google is using a hitherto top secret "software-defined network" based on OpenFlow, a protocol that separates the management and switching elements of a network, to link its datacenters together.
Google's SDN with OpenFlow is reportedly the world's largest network of its kind. The implementation is also based, not on any vendor's specific gear, but on a series of "homemade 10Gbit/s Ethernet switches."
Google turned to the SDN/OpenFlow approach as a direct result of its need for better control, security, and predictability in its cloud-oriented network.
Urs Hölzle, SVP Technical Infrastructure, Google Fellow
(Source: Google)
Google's revelations were the culmination of a hubbub of industry activity around SDNs and OpenFlow, an architecture that is catching on industrywide. Here's how the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), the industry group dedicated to advancing and standardizing OpenFlow, describes the approach in a whitepaper:
Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging network architecture
where network control is decoupled from forwarding and is directly
programmable. This migration of control, formerly tightly bound in individual network devices, into accessible computing devices enables the underlying infrastructure to be abstracted for applications and network services... OpenFlow is the first standard communication interface defined between the control and forwarding layers of an SDN architecture.
That's significant: According to Tom Nolle, president of the CIMI Corp. consultancy, SDN and OpenFlow are a break from the hierarchically constructed router- and switch-based packet networks on which the Internet was built. Notably, there's not one hardware supplier on the board of the ONF. Instead, along with Google, the board includes Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo, along with carriers Deutsche Telecom, NTT Communications, and Verizon.
In fairness, though, the regular membership of ONF is a roster of every leading IT equipment supplier. No one wants to be caught as a wallflower for this dance.
Because SDN and OpenFlow don't support traditional networking solutions, the realities of these innovations are getting muddied by marketers intent on preserving the status quo. Router vendors such as Cisco and Juniper, says Nolle, claim that OpenFlow can supplement their wares. In reality, though, the approach Google's taken favors a cheaper, simpler device in place of a router -- in Google's case, the homemade "G-Scale" switches.
According to Nolle, SDN and OpenFlow present a complex marketing challenge that will take a long time to work through. For now, he says, suppliers are "too busy blowing kisses" to address the fundamental issues. In a trend Nolle calls "softwashing," various vendors are glomming on, claiming to have software-defined network implementations that don't really hold up to scrutiny.
So where's Google in all this? The catbird's seat. According to Tom Nolle, the SDN/OpenFlow architecture, implemented alongside the peering points of the actual Internet, conceivably could enable Google to create a network that serves Internet content to users faster and more securely than the actual Web.
Hold on: Does that mean Google could have its own Internet? Perhaps.
I believe there's a lot of incentive to having its own network. They more or less have one now, but its a way to have more control over their content. Maybe take the content to the ISPs directly instead of having bigger middlemans in the way.
Has Google stated that they are planning to release it as an open system? I doubt they are willing to do that, instead continue to offer their datacenter capabilities.
Maybe they should partner with vendors to actually bring equipments to the rest of the market.
Most of us are in that analyst boat with you, Knoxzoo, especially, as Tom Nolle asserts, since so many vendors are glomming on, insisting they have SDN/OpenFlow when in reality they don't. That's muddying the waters.
It is not what technology is out there is that issue, but how the technology will be used and how it can be monitored so no one get hurt when the technology is used.
I see Google's SDN/OpenFlow is great idea as long it becomes a open standard that everyone can check to ensure that no privacy, security, performance and compatibility issues can be resolved before it goes into production. Also we need to ensure that Google, any other company or government entity get ahold of the data or statistics so that our data doesn't fall into wrong hands.
This kind of thing, because we have no real info on future plans, and potential developments, makes for a confusion of mixed notions. Personally, I'll take a wait and see approach. At this point, it seems to be the most prudent move.
The conspiracy theorist in me, and I'm sure many of us, sees all kinds of potential for abuse.
The tech addicted gadget freak in me, and I'm sure many of us, sees all kinds of potential for improvements and advances.
The analyst in me simply goes, "Huh? OooooKaaaayyyyy. What's that mean?"
Right now, the analyst is the loudest voice in the bunch noted above, and several others.
Actually, guys, I think it's a complicated picture that nobody understands yet. But if Google could offer the same content at better performance with enhanced security, it could offer a premium for its Internet. The scenario also raises issues of control.
Tom Nolle has also pointed out that there is a chance Google might not be subject to the same Net neutrality regulations as other service providers, since its network would technically not be the Internet.
"But then as I said before maybe I am missing the whole picture here ..."
I share the same feeling. I just don't see any incentive behind this new initiative. May be we need someone to break it down a little bit for dummies like us.
Maybe I am missing something here;but what monetary incentive would Google have for its" own" Internet?
After all lets look at the way Google makes money today-Its off Advertising that has more value (than say FB ads);primarily because companies & consumers of Google Services can see Google has done a great job of aggregating data across various different websites together.
Now when you mean your own Internet;Why would anyone in the Search Engine Business want to do that?
I can understand a Company creating a Personal Intranet for its own internal purposes but for something as widely used as the Internet is today;I dont see how owning it in totality could help any Private organization unless of course its the Government.
But then as I said before maybe I am missing the whole picture here ...
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