| | August 201519CIOReviewetworks are the new frontier in virtualization and they are getting crowded with new technology and buzzwords that are scrambling to gain an edge over the competition or displace legacy technology. So, analogous to how servers virtual-ization created a bigger division between the physical layer and the abstracted compute function, are Software Defined Networks (SDN)-simply ripping out in-telligence from network links and devices, and abstracting other media layers functions up the stack through transport and applications? Similarly, Network functions virtualiza-tion (NFV, an initiative to virtualize network functions previously carried out by proprietary, dedicated hardware) appears simply to be the logical next step in the computer-storage-network virtualization triad.I think something larger is at play here, and SDN and NFV are both a pre-requisite and a consequence of technology developments that have created a multiplier effect: mobile (by 2020 80 percent of adults on earth will have a smartphone), Internet-of-Things (from 10 billion connected devices in 2014 to estimated 100 billion in 2050) and Cloud (10-fold market-size growth from 2010 to 2020) could not scale or support the bandwidth growth rate that they command unless network technology evolves to allow the control plane to operate and adapt quickly while optimizing and managing the data plane for the traffic volume and patterns that flows through it. Conversely, knowing that the value of a network increases proportionately to the square of the number of users (Metcalfe's law), the billions of sensors and edge nodes expected to swarm our planet will require more intelligent, flexible and optimized networks that can't be architected by specialized, purpose-built network devices and hardware. There are two sets of capabilities that SDN needs to address: one set pertains to the scale, flexibility and costs issues of end-points explosion, another set pertains to performance, security and analytics requirements as network abstraction occurs. The first set of capabilities can be achieved through a combination of SDN controllers­software-based solutions that allows network resources to create and orchestrate tunnels across an existing physical network infrastructure­and northbound and southbound (Control-Data-Plane) interfaces using standard protocols like OpenFlow. Through programmability, end-to-end control, automation of changes and multi-vendor Software Defined Networks and Network Function VirtualizationBy Massimo Rapparini, CIO, Viavi SolutionsNCIO InsightsMassimo RappariniAPPLICATION LAYERBUSINESS APPLICATIONCONTROL LAYERINFRASTRUCTIRE LAYERNETWORK SERVICESNETWORK SERVICESAPIAPIAPI
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