The Art of Network Architecture: Business-Driven Design

Chapter 16. On Psychologists, Unicorns, and Clouds

There is an old joke that runs something like this: What is the difference between a neurotic, a psychotic, and a psychologist? Neurotics build castles in the sky, while psychotics live in them. Psychologists collect the rent. In networking terms, then, business managers dream of clouds that will resolve all their network problems, network engineers actually build these clouds, and service providers collect the rent.

At press time, it certainly does look like “the cloud” is taking over. Personal computer sales are collapsing, while the sales of mobile devices are reaching new highs. Companies are looking to “the cloud” to simplify their information technology infrastructures everywhere from networking ...