Network Virtualization: Reference Reading

Read on for details on emerging network virtualization technologies, and find links to background reading that shows the benefits of storage virtualization.

Although overarching network virtualization efforts are still on the drawing board, three virtualization technologies are already available. Below is a breakdown of these bleeding-edge network services and their components.

What's being shared	Related technology	Primary protocol	How clients connect	Intermediate layer
Storage space	Storage area networking	iSCSI	Storage "host adapter" and software driver	Storage virtualization switch
Processing power	Grid computing	Proprietary according to processor manufacturer	Software agent	Master control software
Application services	Web services	eXtensible Markup Language	Programming interface	Web application server

For more information on network virtualization, the Fibre Channel Industry Association offers a white paper that spells out the benefits of storage virtualization. In addition, Grid Computing Planet provides links to grid resources. The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) provides information on distributed application services initiatives.