Network implications of cloud computing

Cloud Computing is often described as "resources accessed via a browser over the Internet." However, this definition has become increasingly insufficient to characterize the breadth of applications and use cases for the cloud, and the networks that must support them. A broadening range of endpoints are accessing the cloud: browser-free device apps, multimedia endpoints such as video and game consoles, sensor networks, servers, and storage. The wireline and wireless network requirements-e.g., jitter, latency, packet loss, protocol support-for these uses vary, and imply that a variety of network capabilities are sometimes necessary: e.g., MPLS for quality of service via class of service to support interactive high definition video in the cloud; optical transport for native protocols such as Fibre Channel for data integration in hybrid cloud scenarios; route control for country compliance issues. Also, distributed topologies and optimized routing are required due to application latency constraints. Moreover, wireless sensor networks and hybrid cloud scenarios such as cloudbursting that require a variety of complex distributed data approaches are driving new transport requirements: guaranteed bandwidth, dynamic bandwidth on demand, and usage-sensitive pricing for fine-grained quantities and duration of bandwidth. Cloud Computing, either as an integrated service or in support of pure-play customers must drive service providers\´ international telecommunications infrastructure evolution as well as BSS/OSS.