Cloud
Virtualisation is abstract and hard to grasp - it is virtual. However, its effect is as powerful as Hercules. It is the lifeline of the cloud and soon also of the data network. It is no coincidence that the supposed origin of the word virtualisation stands for bravery, strength and virtue.
Hardware was normally utilised at minimum capacity for a long time and waited patiently for a peak. It was as if Hercules had powers for ten, but would only use them once every five years. The rest of the time, even simplicity would be too much for him. Today, thanks to virtualisation, Hercules could use his entire tenfold power permanently and even divide it up among different users. The best thing is that everyone who uses a part of it has the feeling of being Hercules himself. Sounds too good to be true? This is exactly how virtualisation works in the cloud: virtualisation separates software such as applications or operating systems from the hardware and packages them into uniform virtual building blocks à la Lego. These building blocks are not physical, but a piece of software. That makes them as powerful as Hercules. As virtual Lego bricks, they can be moved, operated, modified and recombined at will - independently of the hardware. This turns power into a virtue in order to optimise the use of resources. Hardware can be utilised much better. The same principle is now finding its way into the network: The functions of routers, firewalls or newtwork switches are also being virtualised in the form of software.
So far without virtualisation: lots of hardware that gets bored because it is hardly used to capacity (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC0FSYFicpA(opens in new tab)).
With virtualisation: Functions such as routers, firewalls or switches move to the virtual environment (VM) and only one piece of standard hardware is required instead of six dedicated individual devices. The server is better utilised, saving costs and energy (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC0FSYFicpA(opens in new tab)).
Depending on the resources of a device, these virtual Lego bricks can be moved back and forth between devices as required. The application doesn't care who its host is as long as its glass is full. It is fooled anyway and believes that it is the sole user. The so-called hypervisor is responsible for allocating resources and acting as an interface between the two. (This inevitably reminds the author of his youth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Twnmhe948A(opens in new tab)).
Virtualisation, which incidentally emerged in the early 1960s to make better use of resources, was somewhat forgotten along with employees. It wasn't until the 2000s that a startup made a name for itself when it reared up like Hercules with a lot of bravado. The big players found little favour in making better use of resources on devices; after all, they wanted to sell hardware. It was a million-dollar business. The cloud was still very expensive and everyone had their own servers in the basement. Sellers today can only dream of the prices back then. Incidentally, the aforementioned startup now generates a turnover of six billion dollars a year.
Today, the many digital services we use every day would be unthinkable without virtualisation. Virtualisation has become the lifeline of the cloud and the cloud a vital infrastructure. According to market researcher Gartner, the Amazon Cloud, for example, has ten times the computing power of the combined 14 following providers. Virtualisation is to the digital age what the assembly line was to the automotive industry at the beginning of the 20th century. A new tool for more efficient production.
So what does virtualisation have to do with the network? Everything! Everything will be virtualised. After the Cloud, Swisscom is also virtualising its networks: instead of routers, firewalls and other decentralised devices, Swisscom is virtualising the functions in the so-called TelcoCloud. A bandwidth adjustment then takes minutes instead of weeks. Or customers rent computing power in the Swisscom Cloud and can make better use of all resources thanks to virtualised machines. Or customers develop their applications in the Application Cloud, which, like a public workshop, has all the tools they need for their personal project. Not everyone needs their own drill if they only want to drill four holes a year. In many divisions, Swisscom is building greenfield platforms that are digital throughout - e.g. All IP as a replacement for the conventional telephone network. In future, service development will be independent of transport technology. The virtualisation of the network is only just beginning - new services will be active immediately at the click of a button.
Source cover image: Hermann Luyken, via Wikimedia Commons
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