3 Ways NFV/SDN is Transforming the Telecommunications Industry

Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) are innovative concepts contributing to an evolving telecommunications industry.  Working simultaneously, NFV/SDN touts the ability to transform businesses through lowered operational costs and increased revenue generation all the while becoming a major player in the cloud ecosystem.  As the market moves to adopt these technologies, it is apparent there are compelling reasons these architectural changes are taking hold:

• Disaggregated Hardware – SDN separates the network control and centralizes it from network equipment to enable programming of different components. In turn, the service layer becomes more viable and there is no longer much of a need to physically reconfigure the network. Also, because it is centrally managed, administrators are more quickly able to react to changing needs thereby becoming more elastic and adaptable.
• Open Source Software – SDN helps to enable open source protocols and tools that allow network operators to fully customize their environments.  Organizations are creating open software tools like ONIE, Openflow, and OpenNSL that create a framework that allows companies to deliver unique solutions that aren’t tied to proprietary systems.
• Virtualized Functions – NFV works to decouple network functions such as firewalls, caching, and network address translation (NAT) from propriety hardware functions so that they can be replaced in software. This enables network administrators to avoid purchasing dedicated hardware devices and thus shortening and simplifying the service chain.

NFV/SDN, through these three examples, is paving the way for smaller players in the networking and telecommunications industry to enter a market that was previously dominated by Tier 1 companies. To learn more about these technologies or to discuss your optical transceiver needs, please contact us.