Network Virtualization: Reference Reading

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 sharedRelated technologyPrimary protocolHow clients connectIntermediate layer
Storage spaceStorage area networkingiSCSIStorage “host adapter” andsoftware driverStorage virtualization switch
Processing powerGrid computingProprietary according to processor manufacturerSoftware agentMaster control software
Application servicesWeb serviceseXtensible Markup LanguageProgramming interfaceWeb 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.