Software-defined networks (SDNs) are becoming more critical than ever to mobile network operators as a means to realise optimal network visibility, control, and maximum quality of service and experience (QoS/QoE) for their mobile networks. Why?
Because mobile network traffic, technology, and performance requirements continue to escalate and evolve, with users demanding ever faster networks and larger capacity. SDN is the only way for operators to address the varied and conflicting impacts that different types of applications and services have on the performance of their networks.
Until now, SDN has been primarily used in data centres; to date, it has only been implemented in a handful of operators’ networks. But driven by the desire to achieve cloud-like agility, network programmability, and scale – as well as benefit from the cost savings that network virtualisation offers – all major operators are now in a race to realize the benefits of SDN over the next few years.
What will it take to be an SDN winner in a course cluttered with increasingly complex technologies and multiple-vendor architectures? To answer this question, it’s necessary to look at the primary reasons why operators are even in the SDN race to begin with: only afterwards does it make sense to look under the hood at what’s driving SDN success and accurately assess the ultimate goals that are waiting at the finish line.
The starting line-up
For a long time, SDN felt like a distant dream to many carriers. The ability to emulate what the likes of Google, Amazon and others had accomplished with a truly automated, self-optimizing network seemed light years away.
However, shifting technology paradigms – including the advent of the IoT plus faster, lower latency speeds approaching 5G capabilities – mean that SDN is increasingly critical for operators to simply stay in the connectivity race, let alone win it. To deliver expected quality of experience (QoE) and network visibility in the midst of rapidly changing network technologies, networks that require heavy-handed management simply can’t keep pace with the pack.
Operators view a fully automated network as the only practical way to resolve a core set of challenges that include proactive problem mitigation, eliminating bottlenecks, taming traffic bursts, and controlling risk.
What’s driving SDN success
Two main factors are crucial for an operator to successfully implement and benefit from an SDN.
Firstly, network function virtualisation (NFV) must be combined into the mix. NFV enables operators to maximise performance, and is also an essential element in the migration to 5G. While SDN delivers control, NFV delivers the components required by services that run on the network. It fuels a performance-driven nervous system that enables the network to adapt and optimize itself.
Secondly, operators must achieve core-to-edge, multi-domain performance monitoring and assurance. To do that, they need to be able to support standard monitoring protocols across multiple vendors’ network equipment. Without this capability, operators can’t centralise key performance indicators (KPIs) and interface those KPIs with network management and operational support systems (NMS/OSS).
The move to effective SDN and NFV strategies requires complete network-wide visibility to maintain control and optimise the end-user experience during the migration to the increasingly complex, dynamic networks required to support HetNets, and the subsequent transition to 5G.
After the race
What does the prize at finish line actually look like? For operators, the reward is probably best described as a combination of:
● The ability to significantly improve network visibility, optimize network control, and fully maximize QoS/QoE over all IP networks
● Running a leaner network and avoid stalled LTE ROI
● Being empowered to pursue 5G, leveraging highly resilient, “low latency/high bandwidth” infrastructure
All of this translates into happier subscribers and a lucrative and highly rewarding path to more Quality of Experience-driven revenue.
The race to SDN and NFV is far from over, and there’s plenty of room in the winner’s circle. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
By Scott Sumner is Executive Vice President of Product Development and Marketing at Accedian Networks.
