Trends Report

Workload-Centric Infrastructure Ignites Software-Defined Networking

It's Not Yet Ready For Prime Time, But I&O And Vendors Have A Lot To Do Before It Gets Here

November 8th, 2012
Andre Kindness, Principal Analyst
Andre Kindness Principal Analyst
With contributors:
Christopher Voce , Eric Chi

Summary

Infrastructure and operations (I&O) teams are aligning themselves and infrastructure around key workloads to drive greater simplicity and efficiency. In kind, the networking industry has responded by suggesting that networks can provide greater support for this approach using OpenFlow protocol and software-defined networking (SDN) concepts. SDN provides the means to automate networks to better support different workloads, but I&O professionals also need to understand how SDN can support turning networks into a virtual network infrastructure. This report will help I&O executives wade through the software-defined networking hype and choose the best approach for their infrastructure to support the workloads, users, and business.

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