Using SDN to supercharge IT on the road to transformation

In order to answer this challenge, organisations require a more fluid and agile approach to IT infrastructure. Disruptive new entrants have no legacy IT structures to manage and can scale their businesses up or down almost at will. But for everyone else, from the retailer trialling pop-up stores to the manufacturer experimenting with as-a-service business models, IT is often a brake on innovation. Each new venture requires painstaking work to recode devices, reconfigure services, coordinate service providers and activate networks. By the time this has been done, more nimble competitors are miles ahead.

SDN enables organisations to virtualise and automate their network operations. This is why there has been accelerated take-up of software-defined networking (SDN). Research by Verizon, which surveyed 165 senior IT leaders from around the world, found almost nine in ten (87%) said SDN technologies will enable them to deploy new applications, services and infrastructure more rapidly.

Simplification is key

The drivers for change are both technical and practical. As organisations migrate more and more of their IT infrastructure to cloud solutions, whether public or private, and add ever greater numbers of devices and applications to their networks, SDN provides a means with which to simplify the management of this complex ecosystem with a more centralised and automated system of control. Above all, it is possible to push policies and reconfigurations out to all devices in the network simultaneously, rather than having to physically visit each site.

The simplicity and control that SDN offers enables businesses to move towards targeted outcomes much more rapidly than might have been possible in the past. As the network function is virtualised, new services can be ‘spun’ up or down as the business need dictates, trialling innovation and then implementing change across a business or moving on to the next project according to the results.

It’s hard to understate the importance of this agility. In the new world, speed to market is everything. The disruptors and innovators now threatening to take market share are quick-paced and nimble because they are built on flexible IT infrastructure designed from the start to support growth through experimentation. They well understand that many incumbents do not have the ability to scale up or down at pace and in many different directions.

SDN technologies provide a means with which to counter this threat. They offer even the largest organisation the ability to manage secure and efficient networks and, ultimately, to deliver the world-class experience their customers now demand.

Enabling innovation

This is going to become ever more crucial as the millennial generation – and its successors – come to dominate the global economy. Customers will expect to be able to do business across any channel at any time, and to have their needs catered for instantly and personally.

This on-demand culture is difficult to manage even for the most agile organisations, but if a business is struggling with legacy IT structures, meeting the challenge is even tougher. It will simply take too long to pivot and flex to customers’ needs; resulting in them going elsewhere.

Many organisations recognise that SDN is fast-becoming a crucial enabler of innovation, as businesses look for new sources of growth in the evolving marketplace. Network virtualisation drives speed and flexibility, but also enables the management of change without jeopardising security and resilience – whilst staying in control of the cost of transformation.

Speed is of the essence

Clearly there are huge gains to be made for businesses that innovate effectively, and SDN can help to accelerate this process whilst minimising the cost of failure and maximising potential gains. This will be partially driven by the insight they gain from trial and error made ‘economical’ through the use of SDN. The key for many businesses will be early adoption, as those who choose to be ‘first movers’ will gain a significant edge over both start-ups and more established organisations.