The document discusses software defined networking (SDN) and its growth potential. SDN abstracts physical network infrastructure and exposes it through APIs to enable greater automation, policy-based orchestration, and reuse. It aims to increase agility and speed while reducing costs through more efficient use of commodity hardware. The document raises questions about how organizations are implementing SDN in areas like security, automation, availability, utilization, and standards.

1. Software Defined Everything
A Business Perspective
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2. “The worldwide SDN market for the enterprise
and cloud service provider segments will grow
from $960 million in 2014 to over $8 billion by
2018”
International Data Corporation, August 2014

3. • An architectural approach
• Abstraction of the physical infrastructure
• Services exposed via APIs
• Enabling greater levels of automation, policy-based orchestration and reuse
• Goals
– Increasing the agility and speed of infrastructure through policy-based automation of
processes.
– Cost savings in capital expenditure by implementing resource pools containing commodity
hardware.
Source: Gartner (September 2014)

4. Security
• Firewall rules centrally defined and
implemented in all servers
• Distributed not boundary

5. Agility
• Enables end-to-end deployment of service
without any physical changes
• Capable of automation
• Infrastructure implemented as incremental
“pods” unrelated to project business cases

6. Automation
• APIs provide the means to automate
• But
– Which APIs
– Investment in processes, policies, templates,
scripts…
• Potential to reduce errors as well as reduce
lead times

7. Where are you now?
• Research
• Evaluation
• Deployment project
• In production

8. Source: Gartner (September 2014)

9. Availability
• Re-provision not repair on failure
• Automation – reduction of human error
– Really?
• Complexity
• Concentration of risk

10. Benefits – what do you believe are
valid?
• Agility
• Security
• Availability
• Others….

11. Utilisation
• Optimal placement of resources
• Avoiding purchasing in advance of demand
– Really?
• How would you (or your contractor) purchase
capacity?
– Capital purchase of pods
– Opex arrangement with supplier
– Other?

12. Standards
• Which will you follow?
– VMware
– OpenStack
– Microsoft
– Cisco
– Other?

13. Recommended

14. Thanks for contributing
Keith Inight
CTO, Storage, DC, Applications and Tooling,
Global Managed Services
Office: +44 1773 550963
Mobile: +44 7733 312539
Email: keith.inight@atos.net