SDN development needs to be converted to product level

With the deepening of research, the Openflow technology born in Stanford University's laboratories has been updated from version 1.0 to version 1.3, and the concept of SDN (Software Defined Network) supported by it has gradually become popular. Market research firm IDC predicts that the SDN market will generate $3.7 billion in revenue in 2016.

From a long-term perspective, SDN has a bright future and is expected to become the general form of the future network, but it is still in the early stages of development. “At present, SDN is more in the market breeding stage in China, with scientific research as the mainstay and application as the supplement. Most manufacturers are accumulating technology. Within the next three to five years, the development of SDN will be transformed into the product level.” Jiang Bo, Senior Product Manager of Data Center Switch, Jie Jie Network (Jie Jie), told reporters from China Computer News.

Bottom-up transformation

It is one of the features of SDN that hardware is de-silenced and software's "speech right" is strengthened. The traditional network equipment is relatively closed, and the hardware and software functions are forcibly bound in the hardware “box”, and various complicated network protocols and management control mechanisms need to be implemented. Based on this, various network functions can be realized in the end. Therefore, the traditional equipment manufacturers can now firmly control the network market, and other types of manufacturers are very costly to participate.

After the SDN-reconstructed network, control and forwarding are separated, and network management can be simplified through centralized control. The basic network equipment eventually becomes an open entity that can be managed through programming. This not only brings opportunities for software manufacturers, but also makes traditional IT vendors and startups see business opportunities. At the same time, de-hardware also prompts traditional network vendors to seek a transition to SDN.

“The accumulation of experience of traditional network manufacturers on device operating systems for decades has not been accomplished overnight. This accumulation has made them a natural advantage. Based on this advantage, they have adopted a bottom-up transformation method to gradually open up the northbound interface of equipment, based on The northbound interface is used to develop the controller and build the northbound interface of the controller.” Jiang Bo said, “The software vendors are just the opposite, top down. They have the opportunity to program on the 'box' with basic network functions, build complexity The network applications, more emphasis on software adaptability and network flexibility. IT vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, etc., are more focused on the convenience of SDN for integrated systems such as networks, servers and storage."

In addition, he also emphasized that after the software-defined network, the standardization process of network equipment has accelerated. Just like mobile phones and computers, the greater the productivity and the scale of production, the greater the right to speak. Therefore, the status of chip manufacturers in the future online market can not be underestimated.

Seek cooperation and advance together

In order to meet the development opportunities and challenges that SDN brings to the network, traditional network manufacturers have embarked on the road to exploration. Around 2011, Ruijie proposed the "platform, virtualization, and intelligence" SDN development strategy. Starting in 2012, Ruijie already has SDN prototypes (including network equipment and controllers, etc.), and these products have already been tested in some pilot institutions.

According to Jiang Bo, Ruijie has reached cooperation with some users and scientific research institutions and has already had some projects. Among them, Ruijie is responsible for the construction of the network environment, the provision of bandwidth, the sharing of intelligent load, and the backup of links through SDN. The scientific research institutions are responsible for the interconnection of multi-site networks through the SDN transformation to achieve intelligent routing strategies and load balancing. All this is done through the SDN control center.

SDN makes the network simple and flexible, and its ultimate goal is to liberate users, reduce their maintenance costs and labor costs, and assist them in shifting their focus to developing business. Although the outlook is good, the promotion process is difficult. Jiang Bo said: "The emerging technology and concept of SDN have been recognized by a large number of users, but in the promotion process we found that they questioned the value of SDN in driving business development: what kind of business is it? SDN-driven intelligent network scheduling is required."

It is understood that the current domestic users have less demand for SDN, so it is difficult to have the first “cracker”. Jiang Bo told reporters: “Some Internet companies have considered integrating networks and services, and optimizing channels between multiple data centers, and have sparked sparks, but the deployment and landing work is not yet mature.”