SDN: Software Defined Networks

Chapter 13. Final Thoughts and Conclusions

What Is True About SDN?

Most of the ideas that motivate the exploration of SDN start from revolutionary ideas but often normalize through experience. This happens through the natural evolution of prototype construction, lab trial studies, and early deployments. All of these eventually lead to evolving our perspectives and (hopefully) help make our networks better at delivering services more efficiently. This can be visualized in Figure 13-1, which shows how concepts move the present method of operation for networks to some different/new future method of operation.

Figure 13-1. SDN will change our present method of operation (PMO) to a more optimized future mode of operation (FMO), which may not be as drastic as originally claimed (the red zone)

Though it’s too early to pick a winning technology, or even a winning definition of SDN, one thing remains true—the explorations into SDN will change our present method of operation. The question is: will it be for the better?

There is something going on here, but it might not be obvious because it’s under the surface in many cases.

We can’t forget that there is an operator need driving SDN research and development. By 2010, the operation of large network providers had reached a stagnation point of innovation. The combination of OSS/BSS systems required to support a myriad of services in a large-scale multivendor ...