Power To The Network

As the focus of business operations shifts from in-house systems to broader networks, there has been a corresponding increase in the demand for more robust and secure networks that deploy services quickly, run business processes in real-time and allow traffic from all the right people and none of the bad ones.

This trend has caused many businesses to evolve their networks to services-oriented architectures, but that process can be costly and slow to implement. Much like real-world urban sprawl, this method creates networks that eventually become expensive to construct and cumbersome to maintain.

But privately held CloudShield Technologies is promoting its concept of "in-network" computing as the perfect remedy for these problems. The company's CS-2000 Open Network Services Platform (ONSP) provides a universal platform on which developers can build and layer applications, placing high-performance, deep-packet processing and general-purpose computing power inside the network.

First released last year, the platform is beginning to find traction in the government, retail and large enterprise sectors.

"We're pioneering a new approach to placing the computing power in the network rather than off it or just attached to it," says CloudShield CEO Rusty Cumpston. "The programming language we use makes it very simple to create rules and algorithms to run the platform. The 'write once, run everywhere' philosophy of Java is the same type of environment we've created here."

Cumpston says in-network computing is driven by four factors: the principles of placing computing power inside the network; the standardization of hardware and software, and making the networks as software-driven as possible; the use of open, flexible and multifunction APIs; and high-performance, deep-packet processing at the speed of the network. All are essential to ensuring the full realization of in-network capabilities, including comprehensive security and monitoring services.

"The industry has evolved to the use of custom ASICs that perform all these functions, but CloudShield said people shouldn't have to do this; it should be a software problem," Cumpston says. "We've used Moore's Law to drive costs out of the equation by simplifying the infrastructure."

He says CloudShield is aggressively adding VARs to help push the in-network message primarily to organizations with large, intricate networks that require robust computing power and high security. So far, the early adopters have included the federal government, high-transaction businesses such as online retail, and, more recently, the VoIP space. The architecture also lets developers more easily build applications, such as distributed denial-of-services and worm mitigation, intrusion prevention, virtualized firewalls, and traffic-management and control functions.

"We've had success with getting to solution providers and ISVs during the past couple of quarters," Cumpston says. "Our aim is to align with VARs who will bundle the platform with software and services and sell it into markets with high-security and performance needs."

One reseller that has been implementing the in-network model is Apollo Information Systems, a solution provider in Los Gatos, Calif. Apollo president Jim Wallworth says his company has had "limited success" with the CloudShield platform during the past several months, but he expects interest in it to increase down the road. "We've had the most success with federal-government agencies that have proprietary applications to run on it," he says. "Any network running proprietary applications will have massive throughput issues as the network grows, but they can put this on it and have the problem solved." *