SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




ACG Analyst: SDN Becomes Disruptive Force in Networking

Network Management

Network Management Featured Article.


January 15, 2013

ACG Analyst: SDN Becomes Disruptive Force in Networking

Tweet
By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC

SDN is one of the most disruptive developments in networking since the rise of the Internet. That’s the word from Eve Griliches (News - Alert), vice president of optical research at ACG Research.


Griliches will be a speaker and moderator at the Software Defined Networking pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The SDN event will be part of TMC's ITEXPO (News - Alert) Miami 2013 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

“To me, [SDN] is one of the most interesting pivot points in networking I’ve seen pretty much since the Internet,” says Griliches.

SDN is an architecture that separates the control and data planes of the network, but Griliches adds it’s really about much more than that. SDN is about looking at active flows in the network, understanding the requirements of those different flows, and using the network to provide those flows with the appropriate bandwidth and other network resources, she says.

What SDN will do is open up the network in the way we’ve opened up the applications on the iPhone (News - Alert) to enhance what we are doing in the network, she says. This view of the network is very disruptive considering we’ve traditionally built networks from the ground up, with connectivity at the forefront.

“It’s an entire paradigm shift here, and people are going to have to think very differently with SDN,” she says. “It’s not just the next greatest thing that’s bigger and better.”

The basic components of SDN, according to Griliches, include switching elements that are optimized for fast switching but that do not have a higher order intelligence; and a controller, which is centralized, controls the switches and can be used to manage network resources and performance based on the apps. A northbound interface on the controller can allow for apps to hook in.

“Most of the apps being written today are to improve network performance from A to Z,” she adds, but that will expand to address other opportunities going forward.

SDN applies to data centers, enterprise networks and service provider networks. Griliches believes that at least half of enterprise and wide area networks will leverage SDN in some form within about five years.

“It’s a more logical approach to networking that we haven’t really been able to do before,” she says, adding that SDN is now possible due to the algorithms to understand flows and the decreasing costs of hardware.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.




Edited by Brooke Neuman


Network Management Home


Comments powered by Disqus







Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy