INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
technologies can no longer guarantee
quick and reliable connections.
The cloud brought instant adaptability
and elasticity to data storage and
management, and up until now,
network transformation has lagged.
To quote Internet Solutions MD Saki
Missaikos, our ‘good enough’ networks
are no longer enough if we’re serious
about the transformative potential of a
digitised humanity.
Software is what defines tomorrow’s
WANs and VPNs, and as we progress
towards cloud-integrated networks,
I anticipate that software-defined
networking (SDN) will disrupt business
ICT as dramatically as the cloud did.
Smarter networks
You don’t need to know how your
smartphone works to change its settings
to your needs or download a new
app. Just visit the relevant app store,
download, install and use. It doesn’t
matter which language the app was
programmed in, or where the developer
is located relative to your phone.
Now imagine your enterprise network
delivering similar capability. Secure cloud-
based, centralised network control and
shaping, on-demand service provision, all
in real-time, whether a site is in the next
town or on another continent.
A network operating system (OS) will
enable the end-to-end view of that
network, no matter how complex, so
the network can adapt to business
demand almost instantly, creating
seemingly endless capacity that is a far
cry from today’s process to provision
up or down a network.
This is the promise of SDN
Of course, a network OS must
communicate with all the equipment
and devices connected to and
benefitting from that network. It is
interesting that in this era of closed,
restricted networks, SDN is leading
to open communication protocols
and APIs that are device-agnostic but
still offer the same security, reliability
and resiliency of vendor-proprietary
hardware. This alone could lead to
significant cost-savings for enterprises as
they scale their networks.
Thanks to the cloud, CIOs can virtualise
data centres. Thanks to SDN, by linking
clouds and bare metal infrastructure,
they can now optimise and customise
unified virtual networks in a way that
was previously unimaginable.
Optimisation is critical in the coming
Internet of Everything, Everywhere era,
when the sheer demand for data within
the enterprise, and both directions
between individuals and enterprises,
will overwhelm the physical capacity of
existing networks. By automating control
of the network and enabling it to become
a programmable entity for function
deployment and upgrades, we give it
cloud-like adaptability and elasticity. This
“Optimisation is critical
in the coming Internet of
Everything, Everywhere era,
when the sheer demand for
data within the enterprise
. . . will overwhelm the
physical capacity of
existing networks.”
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means that at any time, whatever the
bandwidth or geographic demand, each
enterprise will have a network for its exact
needs – perfectly customised.
Should the need change, with the
adding of new sites (warehouse, branch,
transport fleet or individual employee)
for example or the completion of
significant data processing, the control
offered by the network OS will adjust the
network – perfectly customised again.
Creating cloud-
integrated networks
Software-defined networks are the
building blocks of cloud-integrated
networks, where cloud service and
network is merged rather than linked
together. The goal is to eliminate the
network bottleneck that is inevitable
as our need for bandwidth escalates.
A shift is happening away from
infrastructure and hardware, to cloud
services for both data centre and
network. A whole new market could be
created for network apps, where new
functionality is designed and provided
to anyone managing a network, for
instant deployment.
The ISPs, cloud vendors, governments
and enterprises of the future will be in the
business of virtualised products, services
and systems in a global digital economy
where demand for consumer service is
not determined by geography or time.
It’s early days for software-defined
networking but already the technology
is maturing. Internet Solutions recently
launched CloudWAN, our first SD-
WAN solution, designed to our open
standards approach to SDN. We’re
having conversations with South
African companies in the financial,
manufacturing, retail, FMCG and public
sectors, who stand to benefit from
SDN’s consolidation of inefficient
networks, enhanced security, scalability
and network automation.
As we take our first steps towards
cloud-integrated networks, we’re
looking forward to helping our clients
use the Internet as an intelligent
business catalyst, rather than just a
data carrier system. n
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