Virtualize your cloud across multiple data centers
How well-utilized are your data centers?
You need a truly shared pool of resources, but current application networking schemes cannot provide it if you are using geographically dispersed, private or public data centers. As a result, you need to purchase, house, power, cool and maintain equipment in each physical location for the maximum expected load.
Server virtualization tools mitigate the problem somewhat. Yet, peak utilization times for many applications still tend to cluster around the same few hours. The rest of the day, you’re paying for resources that are seldom used.
Do you have a backup data center for disaster recovery? You’re looking at even more underutilization there, particularly if you’re directing network traffic to the DR site only in case of disaster.
On the other hand, when peak usage exceeds the maximum expected load—and thus the capacity of any one data center—service availability may not be guaranteed. If service availability is paramount, you face the uncomfortable trade-off between provisioning enough capacity and containing costs.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
A truly virtualized network
The ConteXtream Grid solution abstracts the distributed network environment from resource requests. That complete abstraction—combined with the ConteXtream Grid solution’s unique load balancing—is what allows you to distribute resources globally in multiple geographically remote data centers, provisioning each data center for normal, rather than peak, utilization.
When peak utilization hits, traffic flows seamlessly through the virtual network, which leverages the capacity of all your resources, in active and in backup data centers.
You can guarantee service levels based on your entire virtual resource pool, without paying for excess, unused capacity.
One-stop load balancing, your way
With the ConteXtream Grid solution, you no longer need to rely on your applications’ proprietary, topology-specific load balancing mechanisms. The ConteXtream Grid solution enables you to virtualize geographically distributed resources by load balancing requests based on various parameters:
- Locality and identity of the requester
- Resource status and load
- Network conditions
- Network communication cost
- Operator policy
The ConteXtream Grid solution can even be configured to automatically take advantage of variable costs, such as electricity time-of-use rates.
You can use these parameters alone or in combination. Based on the criteria you define, sessions are distributed among the resources in a way that ensures optimal allocation of capacity within the constraints of your policies.
