Networking

What is Software Defined Networking (SDN)? The Future of SDN

Businesses, carriers, and other enterprises are continuously facing onslaughts from multiple sources. Multimedia content continues to grow exponentially, cloud computing is at an all-time high, and mobile usage is higher than ever.

Additionally, there is pressure for organizations to cut their costs while not compromising on their revenue. When all these forces converge, they pose a serious threat to the traditional business model.

What is Software-Defined Networking (SDN)?

The software-defined networking definition can be derived from the function of SDN. As such, software-defined networking SDN is a means of managing networks. It does this by separating the forwarding plane from the control plane. Thus, SDN is an approach that complements network functions virtualization (NFV) through network management. And even though both do manage networks, they use entirely different methods.

Software-defined networking provides you with a centralized point of view of the network. This will allow you to act as the network’s brains. Thus, an SDN Controller is able to relay information to the applications using northbound APIs, and to the routers and switches using southbound APIs.

Therefore, the programmable and centralized SDN environments are able to adapt to your organization’s rapidly changing needs easily. This way, SDN limits wasteful  User Account Provisioning and enhances network innovation and flexibility. This is what will lower your costs of doing business.

The Origin of SDN

Somewhere around the mid 90’s, Sun Microsystems launched Java, and it was the first time the concept of SDN was realized. Geoplex, an AT&T Labs project, was created to be a service platform that managed online networks and services. At the time, it was regarded as a ‘soft switch’ which delivered the services of reconfiguring network traffic and balancing the workloads.

An engineer from Sun Microsystems, in 1998, launched WebSprocket with the desire to produce an object-oriented network operating system. This instigated the launch of VMServer and VMFoundry in 2000 to enable the birth of custom services that could be launched over a network. 2001 saw Ericsson and WebSprocket coming together to design the first soft switch which was commercially available. Nevertheless, it didn’t last long.

The concept was still under review and construction for a while until 2011 when the Open Networking Foundation was created to vouch for the use of SDN. The particular one being promoted was OpenFlow; a standardized communications interface protocol.

The Concept of SDN

Software-defined networking aims to provide companies with stable but adaptable Sdn architectures that are able to handle the complex systems which are a mix of cloud and in-house infrastructure. SDN achieves this by manipulating the underlying network infrastructure to separate forwarding functions and network control. As such, network control becomes programmable and can be manipulated using the software.

The implication is that greater agility is realized, and the network administrator can dynamically adjust the flow of traffic across the network depending on the need.

Benefits of Software Defined Networking

• Over the past decade, traffic patterns in business have undergone dramatic changes due to the heightened use of mobile devices. This has called for more and more systems to be moved to the cloud. Therefore, when Ethernet switches could facilitate the traditional and simple client-server designs, they can no longer cut it as what is needed now is a system that offers dynamic flexibility.
• Thus, one of the primary advantages of software-defined marketing is the ease at which it provides access to private and public cloud services. Hence, your business will easily access these services as well as dictate how, where, and when it wants to. This allows for simpler and faster scaling of resources to meet any changes in demand.
• Also, remember that IT is becoming increasingly consumer-led. People have a preference for using their mobile devices to access data and networks. Thus, using SDN, your IT department shall facilitate this access leading to better consumer satisfaction.
• Among the benefits of software-defined networking, handling big data must be where this technology really states its case. Large volumes of information or data require many utilities such as multiple virtual machines and servers to enable parallel processing. This would call for a massive investment if you are still utilizing conventional networking. With SDN, however, these processes will be handled much faster and at a much lesser cost.

The Future of SDN

This post has discussed SDN mainly in regard to business networks. However, there are sectors where SDN can be utilized with good effects and we are likely to realize these benefits in the coming years.

For instance, software-defined mobile networking (SDMN) shall enable the design and protocol of mobile networks to be controlled by software. The implication is that service providers shall offer networks at lower costs through utilizing commodity hardware.

Another sector will be Managed SD-WAN (Software definition for wide area networks). The benefit of utilizing sd wan is that it will significantly cut costs by halting the use of costly leased lines and managing networks using internet connections instead.

Nevertheless, since SDN is open source, concerns about its security are not far-fetched. This is because this characteristic is what makes it vulnerable to attacks from hackers and disrupting the network. Even though these are legitimate worries, SDN is still easier to defend due to its centralized network monitoring system.

Additionally, the centralized control system is a concern too. For instance, if this control falls into the wrong hands, the consequences could be disastrous. Also, even if the administrator is trustworthy, if they are not well trained and consequently mess up the configuration, the network would become hugely impacted.

Also remember that even while SDN is cited as a tool that allows for easier transition to cloud technology, the cloud itself is a relatively new tool. Thus, for a company to incorporate these technological changes, it must enlist the services of a professional who has the necessary skill set and experience to handle the transition as well as manage operations smoothly.

As the world turns towards virtualized systems, SD-WAN use is going to become more common, and ultimately, a must-have. Thus, ensure that you do not join the party late.

ExterNetworks is a managed service provider that offers cloud and software solutions to businesses looking to make a transition to virtualization. Our company has immense experience in cloud-based solutions and has helped numerous companies to cut on costs and increase their ROI through our managed services. When you sign up with us, we shall assume control of your business network and manage its traffic more effectively so that it can yield more returns. To learn more about our managed services, visit us here.