Software-defined networks a game changer

Spending by enterprises and cloud service providers was $6.2 million in 2013.

 

Surjyadeb Goswami, research manager for Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) enterprise networking, said last week that IDC believes information and communications technology evolutions, such as storage and server virtualisation, will also naturally lead to the need for networks to be virtualised and more efficiently controlled. 

 

That will lead to software-defined networking becoming a game changer, providing key building blocks for delivering next-

 

generation network infrastructure to enterprises and hybrid, private and public cloud services. 

“Software-defined networking is a means to a desired goal, rather than an end or solution in its own. 

 

“It is essentially an architectural model that can help better align network infrastructure with the needs of application workloads through the delivery of automated provisioning; programmatic network management; application-oriented, network-wide visibility; and smooth integration with cloud orchestration platforms,” he said. 

 

Software-defined networking has emerged as a focal point for innovation and change in networking as the industry combats multiple challenges faced in their datacentre network, whether for cloud service providers or enterprises. 

 

The emergence of SDN is on the back of factors that are driving the need for a network that is more flexible, agile, automated, simple and seamless. 

 

The market is at a tipping point with significant opportunities for software-defined networking in both cloud service provider rollouts and enterprise deployments in the APEJ region.

 

Though enterprises are mostly testing waters today, evaluating the best-use cases and planning for their investments bit by bit, there is potential for the enterprise segment to boost the software-defined networking market over the next several years in this region. 

 

“As Asia-Pacific enterprises start embracing software-defined networking, leading networking and IT vendors in the ecosystem need to play a pivotal role in educating their channels and customers on their software-defined networking migration roadmap, while the start-ups will continue to collaborate with other players in the ecosystem and bring in more innovative approaches to address end-customer challenges in their software-defined networking journey,” he said.