SDN implementation is not about ripping and replacing your IT

Santanu Ghose

Software-defined networking (SDN) is rapidly being adopted by many businesses across Asia. The challenges and opportunities associated with the explosion of cloud, mobility and big data are growing dramatically, putting immense pressure on networks. A software-defined network can successfully alleviate a lot of that pressure.

But SDN is still a relatively new concept, and understanding is not high amongst businesses across Asia. Before you embark on deploying SDN in your IT environment, here are few things you and your company must be aware of:

First of all…what is it?
Simply put, SDN is a network architecture that allows you to assign different network paths for different traffic types depending on where your business needs the most bandwidth. It lets you stop worrying about your hardware and focus more on the services that run across your network. By doing so, you can react quickly to changing business conditions and have the confidence that your IT network operations will support you. SDN fundamentally changes how we design, manage, and operate the entire network so it becomes much more practical and reliable.

What does it do?
Imagine your board of directors decide to meet in a room that isn’t set up for videoconferencing. Traditionally, adding more capacity to accommodate that new usage scenario would mean someone had to physically install and configure switches. A software-defined network can add that capacity easily in just a few minutes.

SDN provides a single control plane that lets organizations deploy applications or services in just minutes instead of hours. The network is simplified because the control plane (which directs your traffic) is decoupled from the data plane (how traffic flows to specific places or applications). In other words, your network control becomes directly programmable and can adapt to where your business needs it the most. It’s flexible enough to be scaled and configured to deliver a specific level of service to applications that matter to your business, such as communications, cloud or security.

At the foundation of enabling SDN is an open standard called OpenFlow, which allows instructions to be provided by SDN controllers instead of multiple, vendor-specific devices and protocols. Ultimately, this helps you to reduce operating expenses and results in less network downtime because of automated configurations that reduce manual errors.

Why do you need it?
The amount of data your business generates is growing sharply. More information is being stored in the cloud. More bandwidth-intensive applications are being used. And as businesses embrace mobility along with these growing technologies, immense pressure falls on your network to provide the bandwidth to deal with them.

No business wants to be held back from improving their businesses by a legacy network. And it’s a well-known fact that legacy networks can prevent businesses from being able to capitalize on the opportunities that today’s technology offers them.

So how do you get started?
It’s important to understand how others have deployed SDN and what kind of real-world impact it’s having. As a company investing in SDN, you need to start by looking at what you already have. Your network doesn’t have to be 100 percent software-defined – it’s only worth doing this where it makes sense. For example, when you need to prioritize certain kinds of data (voice or video) over others (email), and keep it all secure.

A move into SDN isn’t about ripping and replacing your IT – most companies can’t afford to entirely get rid of their existing architecture. You need to look at whether your existing equipment is ready to work alongside a software-defined addition.

Any company looking to delve into SDN should start by taking four simple starting steps:

• Deploy SDN-enabled switches so you can move to SDN when you’re ready.
• Understand how SDN applications can enable your organization to deliver the business-service levels that your users expect.
• Partner with an SDN vendor that provides open, scalable, and secure SDN solutions and simplifies the development of SDN applications.
• Work with a partner that can help build a proof-of-concept test for SDN in your environment. This will help you understand how network virtualization and automation can deliver higher service levels for your business.

Investing in SDN shouldn’t be a quick decision – by taking the time to fully understand it and assess its suitability for your needs, you can use it to great effect and accelerate your business.

The author is Director, Networking, HP India.