Cloud Computing Services (CCS) A Threat for Internet Neutrality? Internet Economics, HS11, UZH IFI Beat Kuster
Index Definitions Introduction General Problem Description Deregulationists point of view Business Models conflicting with Internet Neutrality Bandwidth consumption of CCS Conclusions 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 2
Definitions Internet Neutrality: Internet users are entitled to service that does not discriminate on the basis of source, destination, or ownership of Internet traffic. CSP: Cloud Service Provider CCS: Cloud Computing Services ISP: Internet Service Provider 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 3
Introduction Focus of this presentation: Arguments for and against Internet Neutrality ISP business cases Cloud Computing Services enterprise view What is applied Internet Neutrality? Implications of Internet Neutrality debate 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 4
Introduction What is applied Internet Neutrality? Zero-price rule Non-discrimination rule Tier-1 Provider consumer ISP ISP content provider Implications of Internet Neutrality debate 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 5
General Problem Description Internet-Neutrality is under threat From 2 sides: Politics Business No consensus on where Internet Neutrality is needed where do CCS come into play?? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 6
Deregulationists point of view Internet Neutrality causes rising bandwidth demand Content Providers profit from more customers pushing bandwidth needs Existing customers no incentive for saving bandwidth Unlimited models e.g. Netflix Encouraging models e.g. one-click hoster 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 7
Deregulationists point of view Revenue split between ISPs and Content Provider is unfair Commodity vs. higher margin business Is to sustain Internet an externality to the Content Provider market? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 8
Deregulationists point of view QoS fosters innovation Today: best effort Possibilities: Development on technical side Development of business models 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 9
Business Models conflicting with Internet Neutrality Differentiation through service quality Service quality can mean different things: Latency Throughput (absolute / relative) Availability Offering a package of quality guarantees to Content Provider 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 10
Business Models conflicting with Internet Neutrality Restricting access to own customers Eyeball ISP only gate to customer 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 11
Business Models conflicting with Internet Neutrality Favour own service Degradation of traffic Up to not usable anymore Example: Comcast degraded some traffic, especially P2P Outcome: Skype was affected Perceived quality of competing service bad Monopoly position 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 12
Bandwidth consumption of CCS General considerations Type of computing how many nodes Data / computation ratio Incentive to reduce demand: bandwidth costs ISP CSP 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 13
Bandwidth consumption of CCS IaaS Most broad approach in Cloud Computing Potentially highest bandwidth demand PaaS Web hosting Database and / or data analytics 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 14
Bandwidth consumption of CCS SaaS Access through web browser data generated by human interactions Optimization from CSP-side 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 15
Bandwidth consumption of CCS Comparison to consumer-focused services Focus of deregulationists criticism Example Netflix 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 16
Conclusions Main points of threats Bandwidth demand is rising too fast who is responsible Increasing commoditizing of network service 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 17
Conclusions Why CCS is not enough to threat Internet Neutrality Business use cases less data intense than consumer demand Focus on other services Bandwidth not that scarce darkfiberpricing.net 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 18
References Figure 1: Richard Ma et al.; On Cooperative Settlement Between Content, Transit, and Eyeball Internet Service Providers, Article, IEEE/ACM Transactions On Networking, Volume 19 Issue 3, June, 2011 Table 1: Sandvine Inc.; Global Internet Phenomena Report: Fall 2011, Report, 27.10.2011, Retrieved at 17.11.2011. http://www.sandvine.com/downloads/documents/10-26- 2011_phenomena/Sandvine%20Global%20Internet%20Phenomena %20Report%20-%20Fall%202011.PDF 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 19
Questions? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 20
Discussion: Has Internet Neutrality a negative impact on innovation? on network technology? on business models? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 21
Discussion: Do you believe in the argument of scarce bandwidth from deregulationists? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 22
Discussion: Is there a need for regulation by law to enforce Internet Neutrality? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 23
Discussion: Can CCS even save bandwidth through intelligent location of data? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 24
Discussion: Is it possible that through CCS business traffic will overtake consumer demand? 01.12.2011 Beat Kuster - CCS: A Threat for Internet Neutrality? 25