Software Defined Networks for the Enterprise – An IT Director’s view

This is a guest blog post. Views expressed in this post are original thoughts posted by Graeme Hackland, IT/IS Director at Lotus F1 Team.

It seems that Software Defined Networks (SDN) is the next big thing in the networking space because EVERY vendor is talking about it! Some have chosen to go down the proprietary route, and some like Juniper Networks with their Contrail solutions have a simple, open and much more agile approach.

At a basic level we know that SDN will give us a boost in network performance, it makes sense – layering the network such that the data layer is separate from the control layer is clearly a good thing. In addition it’s really important that this approach helps to simplify network design (clearly the benefit of SDN is eroded if it becomes much more complex) and easier to administer.

However, it’s how SDN enables the move to cloud computing that really interests me.

At the Lotus F1 Team, we’re working with our technical partners to build a private cloud, we’re re-architecting our applications for the cloud and then we’ll pick and choose what we put in the public cloud – SDN is an enabler for this strategy. I have a vision of provisioning IT Services in this elastic cloud model, between public and private on a weekly basis (it shouldn’t be a once or twice a year activity). If you consider the “mobile data centre” that we currently have to take to each Grand Prix track around the world, there is a period of time when that data centre is inaccessible – i.e. while it is in transit. I’d like to switch seamlessly between the trackside private cloud and the public cloud to avoid this “dead time”. We’re seeing rapid data growth at the track, both the telemetry data (which will grow 8x due to the new electronic control unit’s greater capacity) and the “big data” from multiple sources used to make strategy decisions that will lead to better car performance (and ultimately a challenge of the FIA Formula 1 World Championships).

Juniper Networks approach to SDN will help me to drive down costs, increase network performance and most important does not compromise network security.

I know that SDN may not be appropriate for all SMEs; after all there is an economy of scale at play, especially in these early years of adoption, so I’d welcome the thoughts of any readers as to what they think the future of networking will look like and where they feel the tipping point for SDN is.

View the original article here