IBM announced to have patented a method for dynamically managing network bandwidth within a cloud. The process for which IBM got a US Patent #8,352,953 would avoid stress to users that are trying to access a cloud computing system and are experiencing networking problems. The patent according to Big Blue would permit to solve the traffic problem and it would allow the system to automaticaly and dynamically redirect the task across physical servers according to the availability of the network bandwith, ensuring that the system and VMs can run efficiently.
This is definitely an alternative for users to enable virtualization in a cloud computing system without the need of focusing on CPU’s issues and memory utilization and without the need of adding more virtual servers.
IBM lately is focusing on cloud computing technology, in order to become a cloud provider that can compete with Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft, after the acquisition of SoftLayer it is boosting with new solutions and ideas. This new technology is going to save a lot of money and possible problems to IBM as it would not need to rely on another company because it will not need to use SDN to ensure network bandwith.
What the abstract of the patent says is:
Virtual machines are managed on the basis of data obtained from a management information database of a network switch having a plurality of Ethernet links coupled to compute nodes running a plurality of virtual machines. A management entity, such as a provisioning manager, determines the amount of network bandwidth being utilized through each of the first and second Ethernet links and the amount of network bandwidth being utilized by the Internet Protocol addresses attributable to each of the virtual machines. Accordingly, one of the virtual machines may be migrated from one compute node to another compute node coupled to an Ethernet link having a greater amount of unutilized network bandwidth. Virtual machines may be dynamically migrated in order to provide each virtual machine with a required amount of network bandwidth.
Ed Suffern, IBM systems engineer and the lead inventor on the patent, declared:
Today’s consumers using all kinds of devices expect their apps and Web experience to always work — they have zero tolerance for network bandwidth bottlenecks, IBM’s patented dynamic provisioning invention will help cloud service providers increase network performance and improve customer satisfaction.