Excellent Web 2.0 ExpoTalk on Cloud-Peering: "The Cloud's Hidden Lockin: Network Latency"

[yarapavan]

Tom Hughes-Croucher and Carlos Bueno did a web 2.0 expo presentation
on "cloud peering" as an efficient mechanism for achieving true
interoperability.

I thoroughly enjoyed their slide set which is publicly available:

Link URL: http://www.slideshare.net/sh1mmer/the-clouds-hidden-lockin-network-latency

They advocate that

* true interopability not just about software/data formats, rather
about flat rates
* the ability to use more than one vendor.
* takes into account the whole economy (ecosystem) not just the cloud
vendors, or the customers.
* cloud peering helps avoid the biggest problem - latency issues.

For example, one specific usecase:
<blockquote>
Network latency (roughly) the time it takes to send a packet of data
from point A to point B, and it directly impacts the utility and cost
of any distributed system. Cloud vendors put a lot of effort into
reducing latency within and between their datacenters. But between
vendors, data is transmitted over the open internet, where bandwidth
and latency degrade considerably. So the customer is charged twice for
degraded service, whereas intra-cloud data exchange is essentially
free.

Thus through neglect, vendors can create lockin. If you stay within
the confines of a single vendor everything is cheap and fast. If you
stray outside of that vendor’s cloud everything becomes expensive and
slow. It is infeasible to use (say) one vendor’s virtual hosts with
another vendor’s database service—not because they are “incompatible”
but because, in network terms, they are too far away. Latency reduces
customers’ negotiating leverage: switching vendors becomes more of an
all-or-nothing thing.

E.g: Joyent and Facebook; Joyent and Yahoo
</blockquote>

Example Demo Site: http://www.cloud-peering.com/


-
Rgds,
Pavan Yara