Mobility Principle

Services need to be able to move where computing or networking resources are available. This may be within a single domain of operation of an organization or across multiple domains. In order to achieve mobility, the key factors are: fabric (aka unified) computing, federated domains,standard interfaces, and performance models. The following four major subsections describe each of these.

Fabric Computing

Fabric computing, or unified computing, is the principle driving state-of-the-art next generation data centers and networks. All resources are linked together in a common architecture that can be virtualized. In other words, the compute and storage platform is architecturally "unified" with the network and the virtualization platform, making no distinction between the network and the edge devices connected to it. Fabric computing eliminates manual integration, in favor of an integrated architecture, thereby breaking down the silos of compute, storage, and network resources.

Federated Domains

Federating domains consists of having an agreement between the participating organizations that allows resources to be used between their distinct domains. This agreement ensures a certain level of fairness of use between the members and the services offered by the different partners. This section describes the architecture needed to create such a federation, as well as tools and deliverables that are needed.

Standard Interfaces

Fabric computing and federated infrastructure will allow for resource sharing; however, the high level services interfaces are fundamental to users, as they determine how such resources are used. Applications are usually built upon these high-level service APIs, instead of the low level APIs used in resource management. These service interfaces are usually either official standards done by a standards body or a defacto standard because of the commercial influence of the organization.

Performance and Limitations

Providing mobility between the domains is an essential GSN principle; however, there are technological constraints with regards to acceptable performance, and there are limitations due to limited interoperability between different management solutions and domain policies. It will be important to identify and model performance & limitations in connection with migration over the GSN infrastructure. This is a required step for improving the decision making algorithms of the management tools.