Managing Bandwidth Across the Cloud

One of the primary tenets of cloud computing is that it assumes there is plenty of low-cost bandwidth to go around. And yet when we take a look around the globe, it becomes pretty apparent that bandwidth is not equally available, and that pricing varies widely.

In order to deploy cloud computing on a global basis, IT organizations are going to need to find some way of finding the least expensive route from any given end point to the centralized resources residing in any given data center.

While the term cloud implies ubiquitous availability, the reality is that servers still need to sit in a physical data center. Ipanema Technologies president Reza Mahdavi says this simple fact of physics is the rationale behind the development of his company’s approach to bandwidth management.

The company’s Autonomic Networking System automatically determines the least expensive, most efficient route from any given end point back to the data center. Even in countries such as the U.S., bandwidth rates can vary widely during any time of the day. And in other countries around the globe, bandwidth access can be very expensive indeed.

As cloud computing evolves, Mahdavi is betting that IT organizations are going to want to play multiple carriers off one another to find the best pricing on a daily basis. The only thing preventing that from happening is lack of insight into what fees are being charged at what time of day, which is something Ipanema Technologies is determined to optimize by providing network visibility from Layer 2 all the way to Layer 7.