There are several global trends that are pushing enterprises to move more of their operations to digital solutions, from cybersecurity to the need to make sense of reams of data, along with the added influence of technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Businesses need a flexible solution for handling a variety of technologies, and many enterprises are finding the solution in software-defined networking and network functions virtualization.
Software-defined networking and network functions virtualization offer the flexibility and agility that you need to optimize the flow of data transmissions, while offering cost-effective low latency with low bandwidth requirements.
Software-defined networking: Software-defined networking provides network engineers with the ability to respond to business requirements through a centralized and highly visible management console. It separates the network control plane from the forwarding plane in order to give the network the flexibility to abstract for a variety of applications or network services. The benefits of software-defined networking include:
- Centralized visibility of the network
- The ability to program application interfaces
- Orchestration and automation of network functions
Network functions virtualization: This virtualization technology is used to take a variety of network types and consolidate them for cost effectiveness and improved flexibility, operations and maintenance. Network functions virtualization is not vendor specific and has a common hardware design. Additional benefits include:
- Flexibility for service creation, as well as the ability to offer multi-tenancy
- Fast time to market, with a flexible architecture
- Resources can be pooled, whether they are store, compute or network
One way that enterprises are harnessing the potential of these technologies is with software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), which can reduce hardware, software and maintenance costs after five years to about 40 to 80% lower than other networking solutions that involve traditional routers. It’s also estimated that network engineers spend 50 to 90% less time on configurations at branch locations when using this technology.
Utilizing software-defined networking comes with positive impact in expanding the interconnectedness of your business. Here are a few applications:
- Managing the consumption of network bandwidth through the prioritization of mission-critical data transmissions across specific pathways
- Equipping the enterprise with quick access to hybrid and multicloud services applicable for users, applications and data, allowing for better disaster recovery planning and redundancy, improved scalability, and faster time to market.
- Accessing more dynamic, agile business solutions, rather than investing in expensive hardware that is customized for the enterprise.
To learn more about the benefits that software-defined networking can offer your enterprise in preparing for the future and your future business goals, contact us at eXemplify.