SDN Solutions

The impending major shift in the architecture of the network implies that network operators must assess whether they are ready to adopt the change and when. More important, they must assess which ingredients of the solution fit their needs and what value they provide in their specific circumstances. Likewise, equipment vendors must assess which parts of the solution are they ready to invest in and when, and identify missing parts in their solution. Other players in the networking food-chain, such as sub-system vendors and network software vendors, must understand what these changes mean to the products they are developing. Given our extensive exposure to multi-layer networking and all its facets, we believe we can help in all of these cases. 

We can provide network operators an unbiased implementer’s perspective on questions of the following type:

• What is the optimal optical architecture for my network?

• Do I need OTN switching?

• Do I need CDC ROADMs? FlexGrid? Adaptive transponders?

• What is the value of multi-layer networking in my network?

• What are my specific operational challenges of adopting the architecture?

• What do different vendors offer?

• How do they stack up against each other (competitive analysis)?

• How do I build a highly functional multi-vendor solution?

• Separating hype from reality: what value can Transport SDN offer?

• How does SDN augment or replace my network management systems?

• What are the resiliency and security risks associated with adopting SDN?

We can help equipment vendors answer questions like the following,

without the natural internal bias (cool-aid free advice):

• Is my current solution architecture extendible to meet likely future scenarios?

• How much switching flexibility do I need in my DWDM layer and OTN layer?

• What are the pros/cons of different centralized and distributed control architecture?

• What value does interaction with the IP layer bring to my transport-only solution?

• How do I turn my transport only solution into a multi-layer solution?

• How do the various emerging standards relate to each other? Are they all needed?

• What disruptive technologies in this space do I need to pay attention to?

• Which SDN applications do I need to develop?

• How do I accurately model the network-level value of my solution?

We can help sub-system vendors and network software vendors answer questions like the following:

• What features do I need to add to my product to best meet the needs of the network operators?

• How much flexibility should I add to my product to provide value yet avoid excessive complexity?

• What disruptive technologies in this space do I need to pay attention to?

• Hype detector: which capabilities should I not focus on because they will never be widely deployed?

• How should my product interact directly or indirectly with various SDN controllers?

We can also help operators and vendors who wish to build SDN applications and adaptors, leveraging our deep understanding of the architecture of these components and their interfaces to the rest of the solution.