Digital Transformation Acceleration with Software-Defined anything (SDx)

You’ve likely heard the buzz getting louder the last few years around software-defined everything (SDx). You’re probably finding a swarm of companies knocking on your door selling a host of services around implementing software-defined networking (SDN), software-defined storage (SDS) and software-defined data center (SDDC). What you may not realize is that this software-defined movement is truly a disruptive technology shift that is dramatically changing the way an organization accesses storage, networks and data centers.

When IT people think about disruption, we think about innovations that displace earlier technologies and take things to a new level in our field.

Physical items and functions from our daily life are also becoming software-defined, and this value shift to software holds implications far beyond the technology industry. As software-defined networking is eclipsed by software defined everything, or “SDx,” what does that mean for the future of IT infrastructure?

Software-defined anything is also known as SDx, is bound to encourage productivity growth through increased network access from a range of portable and traditional devices.

The hottest buzzwords in IT technology today are software-defined networking (SDN), software-defined storage (SDS), and software-defined data center (SDDC). These are part of a broader trend that we might as well call software-defined everything.

Impact is every Industry:

·        Service Provider

·        Banking Financial Service and Insurance

·        Retail

·        Healthcare

·        Government

·        Education

·        Transportation

·        Utilities

·        Manufacturing

·        Media and Entertainment

·        Telecom

The global software-defined anything market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period.

Principal Areas of SDx

While the term software-defined encompasses a variety of technologies, the fundamental principal of SDx is to create agility and flexibility between storage, virtual machines and networking. While the term software-defined encompasses a variety of technologies, the fundamental principal of SDx is to create agility and flexibility between storage, virtual machines and networking.

Take a look at what’s required to transform your network into the SDx technology now in demand.

Virtualization - SDDC is fundamentally based on computer virtualization.  

Hypervisors - The hypervisor is software that allows the sharing of the physical hardware’s resources by the VM’s when they are guests on the host machine using the physical hardware components.  

Containers - While containers and VM’s are often considered one in the same, for the purposes of virtualization this is inaccurate. 

Software-Defined Storage - Software designed storage is the second step to SDDC.  

SDN -Software-defined networking benefits SDDC by allowing direct programming and abstracting of lower level functionality.  

NFV - Network functions virtualization decouples the network to create individual virtualized network functions (VNF). 

Orchestration Software - When orchestration and automation combine, management software becomes involved to streamline and automate applications and other involved functions through standard repeatable processes.  

VM Vending -This management tool allows for active monitoring of VM’s.  

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic & SDx Acceleration

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in early 2020, has augmented the demand for software-defined anything due to the rising adoption of remote working models.

The current COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on the internet usage. Many big IT infrastructure providing giants have to perform the migration of the networking infrastructure for "work from home" scheme. The new challenging use cases where the provisioning of solutions such as switching to open-source platforms from proprietary devices requires attention. The maximum usage of a VPN for teleconferencing and “work from home” scheme caused a huge surge on the internet. This situation forced all the IT infrastructure providers to switch towards Software-Defined Network (SDN), Hybrid Software-Defined Network (HSDN), and Software-Defined Wide-Area Networks (SD-WAN).

The COVID-19 pandemic has positively impacted the software-defined networking market. The main driver for market growth is the exponential integration of big data. The global spread of the virus has brought researchers, doctors, and data scientists together to find solutions. Researchers are using technologies such as big data, machine learning, and other advanced technologies during the current crisis.

Besides, the government-imposed lockdowns in various countries have forced people to stay at home to contain the spread of the virus. People staying at home has increased the usage of the Internet. IT infrastructure giants have performed the relocation of networking infrastructure for the employees to work remotely. The high use of VPNs for remote working and teleconferencing has generated heavy data traffic on the Internet. The pandemic has compelled all the IT infrastructure providers to adopt software-defined networking technology.

Are You Ready for SDx ?

Are You Ready for SDx ? It requires culture change , support from top, organization level planning , governance , technology adoption

Even if the realities of software-defined everything are still years away, this means that organizations are likely already behind. Getting the people and processes in place to help drive this kind of change will be paramount for any company looking to take advantage of these next-generation technologies.

Teams must understand that their job is to evaluate deeply how purchases in areas adjacent to theirs might impact how they can work together to deliver optimal user experience. e.g. Governance , Budgets , Reporting structure , Performance metrics. 

It is agreed that the major benefits of SDE are cost optimization with hardware as well as manpower reduction. But to enable automation, human effort is still required for designing and implementation.

Benefits are many...

1. Reduction of maintenance cost, a boon for organizations

2. Local interaction with devices leads to less field engineers

3. A centralized controller provides flexibility, programmability and a high return on investment (ROI) with its simplified network design.

Approach towards SDx Adoption

There are various areas Areas of SDx .. Its Important to choose priority areas in implementation approach

In SDx everything revolves around the application. Every application consists of functionalities that it expects from the infrastructure and knows the configurations it needs. So automation becomes possible; the necessary environments automatically adjust to what the application needs on the basis of policies. The functionalities and infrastructure are no longer dependent on each other.

1.      Dynamic and scalable infrastructure

2.      Service chaining and policies

3.      Automation at DC , Operations

4.      Simpler management - Storage , Data Center , Networking , Cloud Services , Development , Deployments

5.      Monitoring of Network Components

Impact of Emerging Technologies

Impact of Emerging Technologies will boost SDx Adoption .The key to overcoming this is in the planning process. Expert input early on will help establish clear and measurable objectives, which can be further broken down into key performance indicators that track the impact of each Emerging Technologies.

The virtualization brought by software-defined networking (SDN) to 5G allows administrators to control and change the network remotely. 5G can cache content locally, which requires an SDN controller to manage the traffic accessing the cache and orchestrate how the devices are communicating with the network

Imagine what an open, software-defined model will do to help IT managers meet the need for faster, more flexible, and more secure systems and platforms for 5G

To tackle security threats to 5G devices, there are four security mechanisms 5G networks need to meet:

1. Cross-layer security: It refers to the coordination of different security methods for each security layer using a unified framework.

2. End-to-end security: It will secure the communication paths between the user and the core network. It is challenging because of the distributed nature of 5G networks.

3. Cross-domain security: It is a mandated need to fulfil vertical specific use cases. This requires cooperation between different domains in the 5G system for the enactment of integrated cross-domain security solutions.

4. Security-by-design: Security must be built into the design during the development phase. As the network evolves, it should be able to adapt to changing environmental factors.

Role of Service Providers

The ability to manage multiple service providers in today’s complex sourcing models is becoming an increasingly high priority. Maturity level by Service Providers in SDx area is increasing day-by-day

The major key players of Software-defined anything market are as follows:

Cisco, Citrix, EMC2, HP, IBM, Microsoft, VMware. The other prominent vendors in the market include 6Wind, Arista Networks, Avaya 0, Big Switch Networks, Brocade, DataCore, Dell, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper Networks, NEC, NetApp, Nexenta, Pertino, Pivot3, Plexxi, PLUMgrid, and SwiftStack

Due to the high level of competition in this market, many vendors are now focusing on acquiring small companies as it will help them to increase their product portfolio and virtualize offerings.

Companies are implementing storage in the form of software defined storage (SDS) systems for minimising issues, such as vendor lock-in, especially for hardware procurements from their storage suppliers.

Security Aspects for SDx

Businesses recognize that effective vendor management and governance is key to achieving business value, maintaining process consistency and staying one step ahead of constantly evolving cybersecurity risks

The SDN architecture provides a virtualized network that transforms today’s network into flexible and programmable platforms. The future of networking will rely more and more on software, and SDN, in turn, will become the new norm for networks. On the other hand, there is critical security risk that needs to be addressed regarding the SDN controller and applications before the SDN can be securely deployed.

If attackers compromise the SDN controller, they can hack the SDN applications to manipulate security applications to reprogram the network traffic flow through the SDN controller.

Server virtualization, mobility and cloud computing are becoming the new norm to meet changing business needs. As these technologies evolve, the traditional network architecture is starting to fall short of meeting the significant network demands.

SDS is a model in which the information security is controlled. The functions of network security devices, such as firewalling, intrusion detection, access controls, and network segmentation are extracted from hardware devices to a software layer.

Software-defined security is when security functions are abstracted from the hardware they run on and become virtual network functions (VNFs). This virtualization enables additional functionality such as segmentation, which adds new layers of security. 

Way Ahead

“Every technology organization needs to be able to transform ideas into working functionality that creates value for customers. That means you need not only world-class development processes but infrastructure processes as well—and that’s where software-defined data centers become absolutely relevant,” said Gene Kim, co-author of “The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win.”

As business requirements continue to increase in speed and number, forward-thinking IT departments are moving away from hardware commitments and rigid architectures that constrict their ability to react and adjust to changing needs. Software-defined technologies are becoming the innovative powerhouses behind building more efficient and agile IT services for today and well into the future.

References

• https://www.sdxcentral.com/cloud/definitions/software-defined-everything-sdx-part-1-definition/
• https://devops.com/why-the-buzz-on-software-defined-everything-sdx/
• https://www.wired.com/insights/2013/05/are-you-ready-for-software-defined-everything/
• https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/financial-services/us-fsi-software-defined-everything.pdf
• https://devops.com/why-the-buzz-on-software-defined-everything-sdx/