SPEAKERS
The missed link in cloud computing: The importance of data centre networking
Mark Williams
Ever since Foster and Kesselman started us on the path to cloud with "The Grid: A Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure" in 1998, most of the interesting discussion has been around CPU scheduling, storage management, virtualisation and similar topics. The network has been a much more minor theme despite the fact that the original authors actually identified the network as vital element in the grid equation. Even when the network has been discussed, it has usually been the WAN that was discussed, rather than the LAN.
This is not surprising. People prefer to discuss that part of the system which needs improvement or which represents a bottleneck; up to now, the LAN has typically not been a significant factor in the performance or feasibility of grid computing systems or cloud computing systems.
That is about to change. Pervasive virtualisation of compute resource along with the consolidation of data centres and the convergence of communication between VMs, within VMs and between VMs and storage is causing a re-think of data centre network architecture for the first time in 15 years. New communication patterns within data centres have made in-centre latency a key factor in the performance of cloud applications; consolidation has made network scaling, footprint and energy consumption a significant consideration for data centre designers; and convergence promises to rewrite the rulebook with regard to the required performance metrics for data centre networking.
This presentation will delineate the issues and give insight into what Juniper thinks should be done about them.
 | Mark Williams' Biography Mark Williams joined Juniper Networks in October 2003 and currently works as solutions director for Juniper’s global strategic partners. Williams has been working across the Asia-Pacific region in telecommunications from his base in China since June, 1998 and in that time has worked on the development of data networking solutions for both enterprise and service provider customers. Most recently, his focus has been on Data Centre Network architectures. Before moving to China, Williams spent more than 10 years working as a network engineer in the academic community, where he contributed to the architecture of the first Internet backbone in Australia, AARNET. Williams previously worked for The University of Queensland, Siemens, The University of Stuttgart, Bay Networks and Nortel Networks. He graduated with Honours in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Asian Languages from The University of Queensland in Australia. |
