Analytic data arbitration concept to enable elastic Big Data analytics compute model

Gigamon is calling this approach, NFV for Tools (NFVfT), and the vision is to standardise APIs and the demarcation point for network traffic and Big Data to be brokered into an elastic compute architecture for analysis. Gigamon’s proposal is to offer visibility arbitration so that the Big Data analytics tools can virtualise their functions and process data on demand enabling a per-unit-of-information-processed pricing model. This vision would create a revolutionary new paradigm for the more effective processing of Big Data by Customer Experience Monitoring (CEM), troubleshooting and Quality of Service (QoS) tools, as well as the OSS/BSS function and other monitoring and analysis solutions.

“Big Data is changing the status quo for mobile carriers. The current business model for service providers could become problematic as they fund the rising cost of transporting this data,” said Andy Huckridge, director of service provider solutions at Gigamon. “Many service providers have now realised the value of the Big Data in their pipes and are now in the process of enabling the monetisation of that data. However, this model begins to break down with the legacy analytic tool vendors. The NFV for Tools concept empowers the tools of the future to analyse the bandwidth of the future with the end goal of enabling the monetisation of Big Data.”

The NFV for Tools concept revolves around the ability for Gigamon’s Visibility Fabric to normalise, filter and forward data in to a storage medium through a virtual demarcation point. The vision is to utilise the Orchestration Layer of the Unified Visibility Fabric Architecture and any developed APIs to discover which tools are available to the Visibility Fabric and their capabilities. This enables what would be called the Analytic Data Arbitration Function (ADAF) which manages the brokering of analytic tools with the supply of data that needs to be processed or analysed. The ADAF capability is in many ways similar to a portal, but where a provisioning and arbitration function exists to broker vendors of analytic tools with those who supply data that needs to be processed or analysed.

“Vistapointe was founded on this exact NFV vision of decoupling the analytic tools from the underlying custom hardware probes and enabling this functionality via software on x86 compute platforms. This architecture eliminates the current method of deploying multiple custom probe-appliances, and leverages the existing data centre compute infrastructure, therefore drastically reducing the total cost of ownership,” said Ravi Medikonda, CEO, Vistapointe Inc. “With an integrated solution of Vistapointe software analytic tools and Gigamon’s innovative NFVfT, the future of service provider monitoring will create a cost-effective and scalable platform for big-data applications.”

“This concept of NFV for tools is a great idea, but could be disruptive for the incumbent vendors if they don’t innovate to keep up. It should help carriers generate revenue through Big Data analysis while reducing CAPEX and OPEX and accelerating service deployment,” said Ray Mota, Managing Partner at ACG Research. “The dynamic brokering of Big Data analytic services will enable carriers to perform analytics on demand and could certainly create an invaluable new model for them to analyse the vast amounts of data on their networks.”