Unlock the value of software-defined networking

End-to-End Software-Defined Networking: Maximizing Value in a Digital Transformation Era

The evolution of IT services delivery across various industries has been profoundly influenced by digital transformation, leading to significant changes in technology, endpoint types, network traffic, and cloud-based applications. This transformation necessitates higher performance and availability standards to maintain competitiveness, with the demand for network services scaling exponentially due to the proliferation of devices, increased traffic, and cloud-based applications.

The Role of End-to-End Software-Defined Network Fabric

To address these challenges, organizations are adopting end-to-end software-defined network fabric, a system that leverages software to configure device-to-device networking. This solution integrates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, enabling automation for greater efficiency and predictability in network operations administration and management. It optimizes network configurations based on business intent, establishes customized networking baselines, and continuously monitors the network to swiftly identify and mitigate performance issues.

Value Proposition of Centralized Network Management

Centralizing network management offers immediate benefits that quickly justify the effort required for change. This approach prepares organizations for future demands of increased agility, scalability, and performance. Given the complexity associated with managing networks across multiple public clouds, campus environments, and IoT/edge devices, many industry analysts foresee end-to-end software-defined network fabric as a necessary future tool.

Benefits of End-to-End Software-Defined Network Fabric

Implementing end-to-end software-defined network fabric provides several key benefits:

1. Operational Efficiency: By translating business-aligned policies into desired network states, this system reduces operational complexity and costs. Centralized network orchestration software enables policy-based configurations to be implemented consistently across the network, enhancing agility and reducing human error.

2. Cost Reduction: Automation of deployment, monitoring, verification, and remediation processes accelerates policy activation and verification, reduces human errors, simplifies resource management, and potentially decreases the need for skilled staff.

3. Improved Quality of Service: Enhanced visibility into real-time user experiences and the ability to optimize network traffic flow lead to faster issue identification and resolution, improving network availability and performance.

4. Enhanced Security: By automating policy deployment and ensuring continuous verification of compliance, this solution strengthens security from edge to cloud, securing application traffic over the internet. It also minimizes risks associated with unauthorized access to the network.

5. Simplified Network Management: Treating the network as an integrated infrastructure allows for dynamic approaches to building, deploying, and managing the environment, making it easier to manage performance, meet business service level agreements, and optimize costs.

Conclusion

Adopting end-to-end software-defined network fabric and centralized access control can significantly overcome current network challenges and prepare organizations for future complexities. By implementing this technology, businesses can lower operating costs, enhance network administration efficiency, and deliver superior levels of availability and performance. Partnering with experts like NTT can facilitate a smooth transition to a software-defined network environment, maximizing the value of the investment and ensuring consistent management across legacy and new assets.