The Three Faces of IT
The “IT” function has been alive and well for over more than half a century. In fact, if you trace Information Technologies all the way back to the earliest IBM...
April 17, 2018
No argument, SDN is the wave of the future and provides increased networking power to organizations struggling to achieve greater agility for application deployment. The promise of what SDN can deliver in terms of business performance has organizations motivated to make the transition.
NetBrain recently surveyed network engineers ― not analysts or pundits, but those actually responsible for managing the network ― about their experience with SDN. We wanted to distinguish reality from hype as it applied to SDN integrations. Specifically, we wanted to learn what effect SDN is having on operational workflows.
Our results found that while excitement is high, actual implementation has a bit of catching up to do. Key takeaways:
As with any new, high-powered technology there is always a learning curve, a few potential flaws and the integration and adoption period is never as easy as it’s made it out to be. Network teams must now understand this new architecture and manage it effectively along with the rest of the legacy network it connects to. In fact, our survey found that managing such an evolving heterogeneous network has proven to be very challenging.
When it came to critical workflows such as troubleshooting the network:
The results of our survey show that there is genuine excitement about the potential of SDN. It’s clear that the potential is enormous and companies are poised to realize tangible business benefits from its implementation. However, SDN can introduce significant operational challenges. There are visibility gaps that impact all workflows, especially troubleshooting.
Visualizing both the SDN fabric (here, Cisco ACI) and its connection to the legacy non-SDN network is crucial.
NetBrain’s Dynamic Network Maps and automation technologies can help demystify the complexity of SDN infrastructure to help bridge these gaps. If you are struggling to keep pace with your operational workflows during the SDN onboarding process, talk to us. We can be the partner that simplifies the day-to-day responsibilities while you focus on your more strategic goals.
Learn more in this blog previewing NetBrain’s integration with Cisco ACI.