New technologies have always been a source of inspiration for the architects of the Internet, and these continue to drive the rapid development of digital services. However, technological innovations are often adapted and further developed in isolation – either due to a lack of communication between experts or for quite specific business reasons. As a result, different variants of the same technology exist side by side without the possibility of exploiting further potential as they are unable to communicate directly and exchange data efficiently with each other. However, history shows that infrastructures, regardless of the technology (road, electricity, water, Internet), can only develop their full potential if they are interoperable and allow easy consumption by customers.
Interoperability is the goal of technological development
Interoperability for infrastructures is needed to enable different systems to work together. This requires the creation of common standards. We can trace this process back to the origins of the Internet. Today's Internet – the network of networks – was initially just a collection of individual computer connections. The variety of interfaces, packet sizes, labels, and transmission rates of the early network providers prevented interaction. Only when a standardized protocol (TCP IP) was agreed upon was it possible to connect different networks with each other. The process of finding common standards went a step further with routers from different manufacturers that could also use other protocols and thus enable greater interaction (BGP). This led to the establishment of communication between the routers and facilitated the exchange of data between the various networks – thus giving birth to peering on Internet Exchanges (IXs).
A wide variety of networks can exchange data at an IX – from 3G to 5G mobile networks to satellite and fiber backbone networks, and last-mile Internet service providers. Exchanging data traffic in this way is done in the most direct and therefore fastest way and saves costs for the parties involved. The exchange of data at Internet Exchanges minimizes latency, which is crucial for many digital applications. We therefore not only benefit from such data exchange when we use video streaming in high resolution today, but will also to be able to reliably access innovative applications based on artificial intelligence in the future. Rapid data processing in the millisecond range, for example in autonomous driving with AI support, will be of critical importance. Internet Exchanges today can also enable exclusive networking and either link two networks via virtual point-to-point connections or connect different players in a value chain within a private group, known as a Closed User Group (CUG). Interoperability is essential for all these forms of data exchange.
Cloud connections are the next step
Similar to the early days of the Internet, the need for standardization and interoperability is also growing in the use of clouds today. This primarily affects companies whose cloud strategy includes the services of multiple cloud providers. In principle, using several providers is a sensible decision in order to ensure business continuity even if one provider's infrastructure fails. However, when data storage and applications from different cloud environments need to interact with each other, the major problems associated with a lack of interoperability arise. Companies often use different clouds for different use cases, and these clouds were not designed from the ground up for interoperability. In practice, this means that for each individual application and for each workload that accesses more than one cloud, complicated programming work must be carried out to “translate” between the different technologies. Companies are using resources here that would surely be better spent pursuing their business objectives.
Interoperability is therefore also a decisive criterion in the cloud segment in order to make efficient use of all possibilities. A cloud routing service integrated on a Cloud Exchange platform enables the seamless interaction of different cloud environments. Such a service creates an environment at the network level in which the clouds of various providers exchange data as if everything were located in a single cloud. This means that the company using these clouds no longer has to invest the significant amount of additional effort associated with doing that translation themselves.
It is clear that the market will find solutions if the economic interests of individual operators stand in the way or if the process of standardization does not keep pace with the demand for interoperability. It therefore makes sense to also look to the future to see when further solutions will be needed.
A look into the future
A further step towards comprehensive interoperability needs to be taken in the area of SD-WAN connectivity. SD-WAN, or the newer generation Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), is gaining interest for obvious reasons: SD-WAN is much more flexible and cost-effective compared to other technologies, such as MPLS, and is especially interesting for companies and startups with a minimal data exchange of less than around 10 Gbit/s. Because SD-WAN is a software-based solution, adjustments which would require significantly more effort and time when using other technologies can be made within minutes. Security benefits thanks to end-to-end encryption of connections and performance benefits due to direct connectivity underline the potential of SD-WAN technologies. With SD-WAN, a dedicated software-controlled network overlay is created on the foundation of the already established, interoperable Internet infrastructure. This means that data can be exchanged without having to be routed via the company's own infrastructure.
The rapid growth of the SD-WAN market and initial implementations for companies in practice show that the demand for the interaction of different SD-WAN technologies is growing strongly. So far, however, there are no common standards when it comes to the interoperability of different SD-WAN technologies.
The bottom line:
Interoperability is the logical result of the evolution of technologies, especially in the infrastructure sector. The ability to make different versions of a technology work together has always been the key to an interconnected Internet. Connecting different networks to communicate with each other and exchanging data by means of peering already demonstrated this in the early days of the Internet. If the demand for interoperability is so great that the standardization process cannot keep pace, the market will find alternatives. This can currently be seen in multi-cloud scenarios, where a cloud routing service takes over the necessary mediation between different cloud infrastructures. In the future, something similar will happen in the area of SD-WAN connectivity.
DE-CIX supports standardization processes and also supports bridging technologies to provide interoperability for the infrastructure layer. One example of this is the IX-API, which DE-CIX developed in cooperation with other Internet Exchange operators in order to drive forward the standardization of the telecommunications industry. Global standards ensure that the Internet is truly globally interconnected. For this reason, DE-CIX actively contributes to international standardization bodies, such as the IETF and ENISA. Cooperation between the operational and scientific Internet community, as well as the sharing of knowledge to develop common standards, will allow us jointly to shape the Internet of tomorrow.
