Despite all the talk about software-defined networking, actual SDN adoption has been slow. But there are signs that may be changing. According to a survey earlier this year of midsize and large North American enterprises by market-research firm IHS, nearly 80% of organizations are planning to implement SDN by 2017.
"The solutions have started to mature," said Clifford Grossner, analyst for IHS. "The use cases are becoming more well-defined."
In a separate report, IHS forecast that the SDN market of Ethernet switches and controllers will reach $13 billion by 2019, up from $781 million in 2014. Grossner predicts that SDN "will cross the chasm" in 2016.
As enterprises prepare for SDN adoption, now is the time for them to start doing their due diligence, and fast. As organizations examine potential SDN vendors, they'll need to ask the right questions to avoid some of the same mistakes they made during previous eras of big infrastructure changes, including vendor lock-in, security problems, and integration issues.
Network Computing caught up with a number of industry experts to get their suggestions for some probing questions to start with, along with why you should be looking for answers to these queries. Continue on to find out what they recommend you ask as you start your SDN journey.
Image: geralt
What open standards do you support?
SDN is all about flexible methods to interact and program the network. You want SDN to give you that openness, the ability to integrate with other vendors, and create a more open environment in a much more agile manner. To avoid limiting your platform's capabilities for future SDN applications, ask what their standard base APIs, protocols and encapsulations look like.
--Gregory Stemberger, principal network security architect at Force 3, Inc.
Are you using OpenFlow or OpenStack based solutions? How much modification have you had to do to get to an implementation-quality solution?
Lots of vendors are claiming OpenFlow- and OpenStack-based solutions. However, they are modifying them extensively, some to the point where they resemble proprietary solutions more than open source. Think Apple OS and Linux: they have a common root, but different outcome.
--Ken Dilbeck, head of the collaboration program at TM Forum
What open software are you using?
You want to know this for a few reasons, but one reason is that as threats are announced in open source packages, you will want to know if this app and specific version is in the product in production or not. It's the difference between an eight-hour day and a 20-hour day.
--TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope
Can you show me your SDN APIs and SDK, and how often do you update them?
Your vendors answer here will determine the long-term viability of its SDN solution in that [the answer] provides insights into whether it plans on developing and integrating new features and future technologies, and also if it plans to tie into other frameworks such as automation and orchestration workflows. The answer will let you know if the SDN solution will scale and provide you agility and mobility with your tool sets. Lastly, it is software-defined networking after all, so the vendor best be prepared to talk shop around its APIs and SDKs. If it's not, you should think twice.
--Kong Yang, Head Geek, SolarWinds
Do I have to rip and replace everything, or can your solution integrate with existing networks?
A key characteristic of SD-WAN architecture is the ability to coexist with the installed network, as well as to deploy in phased stages. Cloud networks of distributed gateways offered as a service further enables incremental integration into existing networks. For example, data centers can be connected without installing or replacing any equipment in the data center via secure tunnels from existing routers to the cloud network.
--Steve Woo, co-founder and VP of products for VeloCloud
What fabrics does your SDN solution integrate with?
SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV) are designed to enable organizations to quickly create highly programmable, scalable and agile networks by abstracting the control plane and networking tasks from the hardware. However, SDN still requires a well-designed physical network to be reliable and manageable. Fabrics are high performing, low-latency and scalable hardware that connect compute, storage and software elements in a converged network. But you may not always want to use the fabrics your SDN vendor provides, preferring instead to source them from another vendor. A vendor's answer here speaks to whether its SDN solution will lock you into its SDN-plus-fabric ecosystem. And if it does, you then need to ask yourself a question: Am I prepared to pay the vendor tax?
--Kong Yang, Head Geek, SolarWinds
Image: geralt
What major functionality is proprietary and how does this effect multi-vendor interoperability?
This is a very direct question and again one that centers on interoperability. I have no problem going with a single vendor as long as at the system level, we have interoperability that you can trust in production.
--TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope
Image: geralt
What are you putting in place that allows your SDN solution to interact with the current OSS/BSS infrastructure that allows it to be managed and monetized?
Northbound interface specifications are fairly immature at this point. Every operator is concerned about the ability of SDN to "play well" with its existing OSS/BSS infrastructure. This is the most common concern and barrier to SDN deployments. If a vendor has not addressed this, it is going to be very hard for the operator to move to implementation.
--Ken Dilbeck, head of the collaboration program at TM Forum
Image: geralt
What IT skills are required for me to take advantage of your technology?
As a disruptive technology, SDN is bound to change some aspects of your IT operation. It's important to understand how a vendor's specific solution will alter your operational model. Depending on the solution and its flexibility, you might need different internal teams to own it.
--Gregory Stemberger, principal network security architect at Force 3, Inc.
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