[OT] Re: Intellectual Property in Network Design

Sat Feb 14 11:21:00 UTC 2015

My views are that if artistic endeavour is involved, then it is IP.
Architecture is certainly that... the look... but, the pipes, sewerage,
electricity, door locks... are not. They are products, bought of the shelf
and assembled.

It would be debatable if there is artistic endeavour in Network
Architecture.  Sure, there are clever approaches... such as Facebooks
Fabric they released recently...
https://code.facebook.com/posts/360346274145943/introducing-data-center-fabric-the-next-generation-facebook-data-center-network/
-
is this something they could have claimed IP over? (I know they didn't, but
COULD they have?).

Personally, I don't think so.  Sure some awesomely smart engineers designed
this... but did they 'create' anything to do it?

...Skeeve

*Skeeve Stevens - Founder & Chief Network Architect*
eintellego Networks Pty Ltd
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On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 1:13 PM, Ahad Aboss <ahad at telcoinabox.com> wrote:

> William,
>
>
>
> I beg to differ though this is getting slightly off topic.
>
>
>
> Art = something different, unexpected, not quite in your ordinary
> experience yet related to your ordinary experience.
>
> Art is connected to what we experience every day but it represents some
> kind of transformation of the everyday. Something that is not actually
> entirely real, it can’t be found by locating it. It requires human
> intervention, it’s the finger print if you will, of our existence in the
> world that has its impact on things that we transform through the use of
> imagination.
>
>
>
> How can architecture being an interaction of time, process, flow, people
> and things be art? The answer is elegance. It inspires people to see things
> in a new way and the interaction with people is the clearest point where
> architecture becomes an art.
>
>
>
> Properly architected network not only need to work well now, they must
> also provide a foundation for business and transform business, provide
> boundaries for information and people, and yet enable collaboration.
>
>
>
> We are entering an age of agile service creation with virtualized IT
> infrastructure, breaking down old constraints in many domains, including
> the delivery of services. No need to dwell further in to this era of SDN
> and NFV.
>
>
>
> To achieve all this, network designs must go beyond mechanical algorithms,
> and even beyond the uncertain empirical, into the world of abstract
> concept, mathematical theory, and raw power.
>
>
>
> Network architecture is not just about configuring routers, switches,
> firewalls or load balancers. One must think beyond that.
>
>
>
> How does technology drive the business?
>
> What is the perception of the network within the organization?
>
> What is the perception of the technology stance beyond the organization?
>
> If competitors see your network design, will they wonder why they didn’t
> think of it, or just wonder why it works at all? If a potential partner
> sees your network design, will they see the future or the past?
>
>
>
> All these things contribute art to the world of network architecture.
>
>
>
> Here is a question for you;
>
>
>
> When you observe a beautifully architected building, what do you see?
>
>
>
> (Link to some examples)
> http://www.azuremagazine.com/article/2014-top-10-architecture-projects/
>
>
>
> Is it all about noticing the details, making observation about textures,
> lines materials, shapes, proportions, light and shadow?
>
>
>
> Or do we agree that architects don't only deal with buildings - they think
> of people, places, materials, philosophy and history, and only then
> consider the actual building?
>
>
>
> Ahad
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William Waites [mailto:wwaites at tardis.ed.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, 13 February 2015 8:55 PM
> To: ahad at telcoinabox.com
> Cc: skeeve at eintellegonetworks.com; owen at delong.com; bill at herrin.us;
> nanog at nanog.org
> Subject: [OT] Re: Intellectual Property in Network Design
>
>
>
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:43:14 +1100, Ahad Aboss <ahad at telcoinabox.com>
> said:
>
>
>
>     > In a sense, you are an artist as network architecture
>
>     > is an art in itself.  It involves interaction with time,
>
>     > processes, people and things or an intersection between all.
>
>
>
> This Friday's off-topic post for NANOG:
>
>
>
> Doing art is creative practice directed to uncover something new and not
> pre-conceived.  Successful acts of art produce something that not only
> wasn't there before but that nobody thought could be there. The art is the
> change in thinking that results. Whatever else is left over is residue.
>
>
>
> An engineer or architect in the usual setting, no matter how skilled, is
> not doing art because the whole activity is pre-conceived. Even a clean and
> elegant design is not usually intended to show beautiful connections
> between ideas the same way poetry or mathematics might. Hiring an engineer
> for this purpose almost never happens in industry. Rather the purpose is to
> make a thing that does what it is intended to do. It is craft, or
> second-order residue. Useful, possibly difficult, but not art.
>
>
>
> Some people want to claim ownership of a recipe for predictably creating
> residue of a certain kind. An artist knows that this is not good for doing
> art because nothing new can come from it. If they are committed to their
> practice, they will not seek to prevent others from using an old recipe.
> Why would they? They have already moved on.
>
>
>
> Some older thoughts on the topic: http://archive.groovy.net/syntac/
>