SDN 101: Breaking Down the Benefits of Software Defined Networking 

A look at why the demand for SDN has grown

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Unified Communications

Published: December 1, 2017

Ian Taylor Editor

Ian Taylor

Editor

Over the last decade, we’ve seen a huge growth in the number of data centres switching over to software based networking (SDN) in order to meet the demands of an evolving, cloud-driven market – but what difference does it make?

With a recent study claiming that an SDN market that accounted for $10.88 billion in 2015 is expected to reach $134.51 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 43.2% from 2015 to 2022, we know it will play a key role in the future of business networking – but why is this so?

To answer these questions, we feel an in depth look at what SDN is and what benefits it can bring to end users and service providers is essential.

What is SDN?

SDN 101 Breaking Down the Benefits of Software Defined Networking
SDN cuts back on technician costs by centralising networking administration

Software defined networking (SDN) shouldn’t be thought of as a technology per se, but a type of networking architecture that encompasses a variety of complex technologies, simplifies them and makes it much easier for the service provider or IT administrator to add greater control, mobility, scalability and resilience to their network.

Unlike the past where calls and connectivity were all a network had to handle, the infrastructure of a modern business’s communication system is much more complex and traditional networks are unable to support the shifting requirements of various real-time cloud applications.

With SDN, however, network administrators are given much more flexibility in how they control their network, and can direct traffic from a centralised location across the board, sending services wherever they are needed without worrying about how or where specific servers or devices are connected.

SDN v Traditional Networking

With traditional networking, networking functionality is typically implemented through a dedicated hardware appliance such as a router, switches, firewalls or application controller – each of which much be manually configured by an IT administrator who is responsible for ensuring each appliance is updated with the latest configuration settings.

One of the major problems that comes from managing a network in this way is that it takes a great deal of time and technological expertise to perform these tasks and making just one mistake in a network where everything is linked individually could potentially bring the whole system down to its knees.

Risky, expensive and highly limited in their capabilities, traditional networking solutions are in steady decline and now the time has come to start introducing new perspectives on how networks are managed.

With this in mind, software defined networking is rapidly becoming the go to solution for those who are having trouble overcoming the limitations of traditional networking – but what is exactly is it?

By decoupling hardware from software i.e. separating the control plane (which determines where to send traffic) from the data plane (which carries out these decisions and forwards traffic), SDN enables the hardware to be controlled/managed from a centralised software application that is separated from the hardware itself.

Benefits of SDN 

If you were to look back earlier on in the article and recall the difficulties network administrators faced by having to update each device manually, it’s clear how this centralised approach of network management is hugely advantageous and delivers much greater efficiency and flexibility.

Rather than having to manage a plethora of devices separately, SDN enables the administrator to manage their entire network as a single unit and make the necessary adjustments from a single access point whenever it is necessary to do so.

As a result, ensuring the fluctuating demands of customers are consistently met with speed and accuracy is much easier to accomplish whilst the possibility of damaging the network due to human error is drastically reduced.

Moreover, with the rise of server virtualisation and BYOD support having made network security management much more complex, SDN enables administrators to access a centralised security control point where they can distribute security information evenly through their business network across multiple sites.

By eliminating the need for manual configuration updates from a team of trained technology specialists, SDN reduces operating costs and also cuts down hardware expenses by virtualising the control planes for each unique device.

As the number of businesses moving into the cloud continues to rise, the demand for a cloud ready infrastructure that enables businesses to utilise cloud resources effectively without complication is crucially important. With SDN, managing the wide number of diverse cloud applications and getting them to work in unity is much faster and easier to accomplish.

UC Today Opinion

In a world that is becoming increasing dominated by digital transformation (DX), the need for an alternative networking solution that can provide greater flexibility, enhanced security and much more reliable support for the innovative cloud applications that are changing the way businesses communicate is stronger than ever.

With SDN, service providers are able to offer provide greater support for all of these services and ensure the needs of their customers are met with consistency throughout.

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