(Image: Stockfresh)
| Increasing choice | |
| “In hybrid cloud deployments, organisations can choose to locate their business sensitive or legacy services and applications on-premise, while still using the public cloud for services such as e-mail or web applications” |  Ergo: Kevin Greene, senior consultant engineer |
| Software Defined Networking (SDN) and hybrid cloud are designed to work hand-in-hand with each other. Both are dependent on an underlying server virtualisation layer being implemented. In its most basic form, it consolidates physical server hardware by allowing multiple server instances (virtual machines) to run concurrently on a single host or on a smaller number of physical server hosts in a clustered configuration. These virtual machines run in isolation but still share the same physical resources.Similar to how physical servers can be virtualised, physical network devices can also be virtualised or emulated as SDN using the host virtualisation hypervisor (Microsoft Hyper-V for example). This consolidation of both physical servers and network devices into the virtualisation design delivers a return on investment for organisations.With SDN, organisations have far more flexibility to configure their networking environments by easily creating VLAN’s/VPN’s/NAT & BGP configurations, in the same manner as if they were to purchase large numbers of physical devices to perform the same functionality. If there is a business requirement to only use approved network device vendors such as Cisco, instead of the out-of-box SDN solutions, then an emulated virtual version of the physical device can be purchased. This will have the same management interface and supportability as a physical network device.In hybrid cloud deployments, organisations can choose to locate their business sensitive or legacy services and applications on-premise, while still using the public cloud for services such as e-mail or web applications. This model delivers the flexibility to scale up workloads to the public cloud during peak times and only pay for the additional compute power as required.Using Ergo as a deployment partner to implement these solutions, in a process driven and best-practice manner, Irish organisations will leverage IT as a business enabler. This can deliver centralised management with self-service, automation and disaster recovery to deliver savings and efficiencies.
|
|
| Intelligent hybrid networks | |
| “NfV can be deployed anywhere in the network without having to install new equipment, resulting in greater flexibility and agility while delivering savings on cost, energy and time” |  BT Ireland: Barry McMahon |
| BT sees a future of intelligent hybrid networks that will directly link network performance to business outcomes. Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Network functions Virtualisation (NfV) are just two of the ways that the intelligent hybrid network is evolving.SDN will bring new agility and speed to network configuration, for example; turning up connectivity on pre-provided WANs to leverage hybrid cloud services at the speed of modern cloud computing rather than the speed of traditional WAN services. As a second example; using powerful centralised software, SDN proposes to remotely manage and control connected network elements.NfV is about software network functions running on generic compute hardware. These virtual functions can be deployed anywhere in the network without having to install new equipment, resulting in greater flexibility and agility while delivering savings on cost, energy and time.BT sees SDN as a being highly complementary to NfV.As innovations inevitably over-take hardware capabilities, a business is left with a diminishing return of investment on the hardware asset. By using generic hardware for virtualised network applications the customer investment is protected as the hardware is reconfigurable and reusable. NfV allows customers ‘click to install’ their required software applications, all the while leveraging SDN to access, manage and control their desired network enabled services including those in the hybrid cloud. The ability for any customer to consume hybrid cloud services via SDN capabilities will allow increased agility and responsiveness to their business needs.
These capabilities will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary; as bespoke hardware applications become end of life they will be replaced by a software equivalent. SDN and NfV are typically discussed as separate topics, however SDN benefits by using the capability of NfV to deliver key services; this is something an all-inclusive SDN model will require.
|
|
| SDN enthusiasm | |
| “End users can enjoy “pay as you use” networking and IT admin can provision users for QOS prioritised by capacity or performance with software configurable elements.” |  Commtech: Gerry Harvey |
| It’s not just about savings, it’s about architecting a network that can react to the explosive changes under way. The increased use of mobile, cloud and video technologies is placing new performance, capacity, and service demands on the networks of Irish organisations. It doesn’t matter whether large enterprises or medium sized business, the end users are demanding levels of performance previously undeliverable. Now, as organisations hit the limitations of their traditional hierarchal network infrastructures, the only way forward to achieve the network agility required is to move to software define networks.This completely separates or disaggregates traditional, vertically integrated networking stacks. End users can enjoy “pay as you use” networking and IT admin can provision users for QOS prioritised by capacity or performance with software configurable elements.Accordingly, Irish business is embracing SDN with surprising enthusiasm. Legacy networks have serious limitations and old methods that simply will no longer work. Most enterprise networks rely on fixed boxes and appliances requiring a great deal of manual administration. Changing or expanding these networks for new capabilities, applications, or users requires reconfiguration that is time consuming and expensive. Software-defined networks take a lesson from server virtualization and introduce an abstraction layer separating network intelligence and configuration from physical connections and hardware. | |
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers