SDN Adoption

Getting Started With Software-Defined
Networking (SDN)
A Quick Look at the Market and the Steps You Can Take to
Jump in…
© 2013 SDNCentral. All Rights Reserved. SDNCentral Confidential

You’re Interested in SDN – You’re Not
Alone
Let’s Look at a Few Numbers

How Big is the SDN Market?

What’s Driving the Growth – Cloud Computing,
Big Data and Mobility

You Only Need to Look at One Network Segment to
Understand the Potential Trajectory

This is Why Everyone is Trying to Get in the Market

So What Exactly is It?

SDN is a New Way to Design, Build and Operate
Networks
Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.8
SDN Definition
1. Separates the network’s control (brains)
and forwarding (muscle) planes
2. Provides a centralized view of the overall
network
3. Utilizes programmatic application
interfaces (APIs)
4. Enables efficient orchestration and
automation of network services
SDN Controller/ Network Operating System
App App App App
OpenFlow
Packet-Forwarding
Hardware
OpenFlow
compliant OS
Packet-Forwarding
Hardware
OpenFlow
compliant OS
Packet-Forwarding
Hardware
OpenFlow
compliant OS
Well-defined
Open API

SDN Promises
Agility: enabling organizations to rapidly deploy
applications, services, and infrastructure to meet needs
Scale: automate and optimize new and existing
applications and services
Innovation: allowing organizations to create and deliver
new types of applications, services and business models
SDN Opens the Network Up for Innovation
Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.9
It replaces static, inflexible and complex networks, with networks that
are agile, scalable and innovative.

Where Are We In the Market’s Evolution?

Custom
Solutions
Tailored
Solutions
Packaged
Software
SDN is Still in Its Early Stages…
11
Similar to other early-stages in enterprise software market evolutions, you will need to
dedicate time and resources to customize solutions to meet your needs.
Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Early Market Mature Market
SDN Today
Analysts recommend that companies prepare for industry adoption of
SDN by starting training IT staff in 2013 (Forrester)

So, How Should You Get Started?

Learn as Much as You Can
Research &
Development
Organizations
Open Source
Projects
225+ Organizations
Copyright 2013. All Rights
Reserved.
13
A Vibrant SDN Open
Source community is
actively working on Open
Source Projects
Many in Research and
Academia are
collaborating to creating
lots of new technologies
or adapt old technologies
Hundreds of New and
Established Companies
have announced
SDN strategies
Familiarize Yourself with the Robust SDN Ecosystem; Understand What Technologies are
Available and What People Are Doing With It…

Figure Out Where SDN Might Make
Sense for Your Organization
Identify Potential Use Cases

If You are an Enterprise,
15Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Some Common Deployments Include Using SDN to…
 Slice Up the Network to Achieve More Flexible
Configurations
 Stretch the Network Across Racks Within a Data Center
or Across Data Centers in Private and Hybrid Clouds
 Automate and Orchestrate Delivery Across All
Resources (Networks, Compute and Storage)
 Gain Visibility and Simply Troubleshooting Through Tap
Aggregation
*Note: For More Details on Use Cases, Check Out SDN Central’s Enterprise Use Case Presentation or Go to SDNCentral

If You are a Service Provider
Some Common Deployments Include Using SDN for…
 Service Chaining to Configure L4-7 Functions
Dynamically
 Dynamic Rerouting to Allow Large Data Flows to Bypass
Bottlenecks and Create Instant Exchanges B/W Peering
Networks
 Bandwidth-on-Demand to Meet End-User Requests for
Instant Bandwidth
 End-to-End Service Provisioning from the Data Center to
Mobile Handsets, While Adhering to SLAs and QoS
Requirements
*Note: For More Details on Use Cases, Check Out SDN Central’s Service Provider Use Case Presentation or Go to SDNCentral

Make Sure You Are Ready
Define Your Business Case and Pick the Right Technologies
and Partners to Help You Implement

There Are a Lot of Options
225+ Organizations Customers – Live
Deployments
Copyright 2013. All Rights
Reserved.
18
Many companies have
announced
SDN Products
and several are
Shipping Solutions
Check out real
solutions being used
by real customers at
DemoFriday™
Make sure you understand what you need and pick the partner(s) that are best for your
organization…

Attempting to Run Before
Crawling
Lack of clear business objective /
problem statement
Failure to manage expectations
Failure to understand limitations of
current software & hardware
Putting Your Trust in a
Single Vendor
Their focus is on selling products, not
working with you to solve your
problems
Many products were designed 2–3
years back, before problems and use
cases were well understood
Don’t be forced down a path with a
solution that was never designed for
your use case in mind
Pitfalls to Avoid

• How many production / paid
deployments do they have?
• How many current trials?
• How many reference-able
customers?
• Where does your company sit on
their priority list?
• Who are their typical customers?
• Are they Telecom or Data Center
focused?
• What use-cases / solutions do they
support?
• Do they provide products or
services?
Questions to Qualify Prospective Partners
20
How to separate SDN reality from SDN hype in an early market…
Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Then Jump In…
Use What You Learn from Your Initial Proof of Concept to
Determine Next Steps

For More Information on SDN, Visit SDNCentral.com
The Independent Community and #1 Resource for SDN,
NFV and Network Virtualization

SDN Adoption

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