Top Five Reasons To Get Started With Open Networking And SDN
Sapply Offer A Broad & Complete Range of Open Networking and SDN Solutions
Here Are Five Reasons Why Now Is The Time To Make The Move:
#1: Save CapEx with Open “BriteBox” Economics
From the beginning, open networking using so-called “britebox” – or bare metal – switching platforms has promised lower hardware costs than traditional integrated switches. Today’s open platforms continue to win handily on a price-performance basis, typically 50-60% less than a comparative traditional switch, while avoiding vendor lock-in.
Sapply offers a complete range of Edge-Core bare metal switches.
#2: Streamline operations with SDN flexibility and user control
SDN was originally intended to let users control networks in ways integrated switching vendors couldn’t (or wouldn’t) support, such as adding new protocols or modifying routing behavior. Today, that inherent SDN flexibility and control is being applied to streamlining and automating network operations. (More on that below.)
Despite those two very good reasons, open networking and SDN didn’t catch on as quickly as some predicted. Network operating system (NOS) software and SDN controllers took time to mature and achieve acceptable feature parity, scalability and reliability. More importantly, many companies did not have the expertise needed to turn bleeding-edge technology into dependable infrastructure, and they worried that no single supplier could provide end-to-end support. Most viewed the risks as too high to justify the potential benefits.
So, back to the question: what has changed?
A lot. Customer motivations are stronger, the barriers to getting started are lower and the benefits to be gained are greater than ever before.
#3: Get Ahead Of Cloud Transformation
We are all on the journey to a cloud-driven future dominated by cloud-native applications designed as collections of microservices, delivered with DevOps speed and deployed and scaled dynamically across a multi-cloud infrastructure. Applications such as IoT and gaming are spreading to expanding edge computing nodes tied to the distributed cloud.
In this cloud-driven world, networks must change. Static, manual configuration cannot scale or respond to dynamic applications. Operational agility and efficiency are now the biggest challenges, and greater network programmability and automation are critical, as illustrated in the IDC data below. Many data center network operators are recognizing the value of SDN-based open networking in addressing these needs.
Pluribus Networks’ Distributed Cloud with Active Cloud Fabric brings seamless scalability across multiple locations and providers:
#4: Getting Started Is Easier Than Ever
SDN-based open networking has matured and the open networking ecosystem is robust. It’s no longer the “bleeding edge.” More importantly, leading solution providers have knocked down several barriers to adoption, including these:
- Simpler migration: One of the biggest barriers to SDN adoption has been the all-or-nothing nature of some solutions, requiring an entire network to be migrated at once; this is no longer necessary.
- No SDN controller trade-offs: Many controller-based SDN architectures force users into an uncomfortable trade-off between high controller costs and inadequate scalability and availability. These barriers too have been removed using a controllerless SDN approach.
- Open standard technologies and tools: SDN-based open networks have adopted widely used open source and open standard technologies and best practices, from Linux-based NOSs to REST APIs and automation playbooks for Ansible. That makes it easy to get started, easy to integrate into your preferred operations environment and easy to take advantage of emerging tools for analytics, automation, machine learning and more.
#5: Get The Most Out of Your Networks
The number one reason to get started is that today’s open networking and SDN can deliver more than the traditional alternatives:
- More performance and scalability
- More flexibility for more use cases
- More choice and user control
- More operational efficiency, resulting in lower total cost of ownership
With a large open source community and a robust ecosystem of suppliers driving rapid innovation and feature velocity, open networking solutions can deliver more business value than traditional approaches.