Method and device for evaluating the system assets of a communication network

Abstract

There is provided a method a method for evaluating the system assets of a network that includes the steps of identifying system assets of the network and applying a heuristic that focuses on specific attributes of the communications relationships between the system assets of a network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for evaluating the system assets of a network, the method comprising:
 a.) identifying system assets of the network, the system assets including either one or both (1) network devices and (2) entity applications, the network devices being devices that are operable to distribute communication signals that transit to and between these network devices with each network device having a transit relationship with a communication signal in that the network device may originate a communication signal and/or receive a communication signal and the entity applications being applications that direct distributions of communication signals to and between several of the system assets; and   b.) with regard to the identified network devices, applying a reference group heuristic to determine if an identified network device is in the reference group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to be in the reference group if the respective identified network device has a non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other network devices.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , and further comprising assessing data about a reference group relative to a selection of migration scenarios each of which is a scenario wherein some or all of the functions performed by some or all of the system assets would instead be performed externally of the network. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2  and further comprising generating a migration consideration set comprised of cost information units that each include cost information about one of the migration scenarios. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the migration consideration set includes a plurality of cloud service providers who are deemed capable of performing a network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network and further comprising the step of identifying, with respect to those cloud service providers in the set, a price qualified roster each member of which is a cloud service provider (a) whose price for performing the task complies with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the cloud service provider to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network, the step of identifying a price qualified roster including evaluating selected operational relationships between system assets of the network to determine the scope and extent of computing services that would need to be provided by each cloud service provider in the availability set in the event that the respective cloud service provider were to perform the network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network, and displaying the information about each cloud service provider and its pricing via a user interface. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the step of identifying a price qualified roster includes determining the dependencies between those respective assets of the network that would be involved in handling the network computing task if the network computing task is not migrated to a cloud service provider and generating a respective price proposal for each cloud service provider that takes into account the necessary computing resources of the cloud service provider that need to be engaged to handle such computing work of these respective system assets of the network. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the step of at least one of communicating information via a user interface about the price qualified roster or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified roster includes communicating information about each alternative task performer in the price qualified roster and its respective price proposal that reflects a price for engaging the alternative task performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein designating a collection of assets of the network as the given set of assets includes identifying a group of computing operations that are to be considered as suitable to be performed by an alternative task performer in lieu of being performed by the network and evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria to determine if each such evaluated asset would be needed in the event that the network were to perform the identified group of computing operations. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria includes determining the existence of a dependency between an individual asset and another individual asset, wherein a dependency is deemed to exist if the cumulative computing operations performed by the given set of assets of the network could not be performed if the individual asset were not part of the given set of assets. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the availability set includes at least two alternative task performers and the step of identifying a price qualified set includes determining the respective price proposal of each alternative task performer of the availability set in compliance with a uniformly applied price work up protocol that is applied to all alternative task performers in the availability set. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the step of at least one of communicating information via a user interface about the price qualified set or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set includes displaying information about the price qualified set. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of providing an availability set includes deeming a set of assets less than the total assets of the network to be a first collection of assets of the network, deeming another set of assets less than the total assets of the network and comprising different a different set of assets than the first collection of assets of the network to be a second collection of assets of the network, and iteratively deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the first collection of assets of the network, designating the first collection of assets of the network to be the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network and generating a price qualified set based upon the first collection of assets of the network being designated as the given set of assets of the network, and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the second collection of assets of the network, designating the second collection of assets of the network to be the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network, and generating a price qualified set based upon the second collection of assets of the network being designated as the given set of assets of the network, and providing information on the price qualified sets generated respectively based upon the first collection of assets of the network and based upon the second collection of assets of the network. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of providing information on the price qualified sets generated respectively based upon the first collection of assets of the network and based upon the second collection of assets of the network includes communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers with the hierarchy being based upon a predetermined user preference criteria. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein the step of communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers includes communicating the hierarchal listing in a manner which gives preference in the hierarchal listing among the enumerated alternative task performers to those alternative task performers who meet a sponsorship criteria. 
     
     
         14 . A tangible computer-readable medium for storing instructions for controlling a computing device to generate an output, the instructions controlling the computing device to perform steps comprising:
 a.) identifying system assets of the network, the system assets including either one or both (1) network devices and (2) entity applications, the network devices being devices that are operable to distribute communication signals that transit to and between these network devices with each network device having a transit relationship with a communication signal in that the network device may originate a communication signal and/or receive a communication signal and the entity applications being applications that direct distributions of communication signals to and between several of the system assets; and   b.) with regard to the identified network devices, applying a reference group heuristic to determine if an identified network device is in the reference group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to be in the reference group if the respective identified network device has a non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other network devices.   
     
     
         15 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 14 , wherein the step of accessing an availability set includes accessing data concerning a collection of system assets of the network that have been designated as the given set of assets and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network. 
     
     
         16 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 15 , wherein each alternative task performer of the availability set is a cloud computing resource.