Examples of the present disclosure include methods, devices, and/or systems. Identifying network communication patterns can include analyzing a distributed computer program of a network, estimating virtual network communication traffic based on the analysis, and mapping the virtual network communication traffic to a physical network link. Identifying network communications patterns can also include identifying the network communication pattern and categorizing the physical communication network link based on an estimated communication intensity of the mapped communication traffic and the network communication pattern. Identifying network communication patterns can further include optimizing an energy used by the network based on the categorization.