By Johnny Ng, General Manager
AT&T Greater China
SDN and NFV offer agility and scalability to help businesses expand
Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) are helping businesses become more competitive. SDN and NFV provide freedom to flexibly manage networks. Further, adding or modifying virtual network functions (VNFs) can be as simple as downloading an app on a smartphone.
You can begin with one set of network functions and add more if needed – it’s your choice. This flexibility is changing the essence of networking – especially when it comes to expanding businesses. The control shifts from physical hardware to virtualized software and hardware, which makes the network infrastructure highly adaptable. Plus, it means customers are no longer locked into a specific hardware vendor.
Here are some additional ways the technology is helping businesses grow quickly:
1. On-demand control
With SDN and NFV, customers can efficiently change and control network services to enable applications as needed.
For example, they can provision new services to support a marketing campaign or research and development project. They can also do this on-demand and on infrastructure close to the teams involved to minimize latency and maximize performance.
2. Improved security
When an attack is detected, SDN lets the network service provider more easily deploy updates, and isolate and contain problems.
In the case of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, for example, the service provider can use its software-centric architecture to scale the network security in near real-time to avoid disruption to business operations.
3. Increase simplification
SDN and NFV help to simplify customer network infrastructure and vendor contracts.
For example, customers can manage all their virtual network functions in an online portal. It’s quick to set up and easy to use, as it simplifies management and streamlines operations.
4. Lower cost
SDN helps customers lower the total cost of network ownership by eliminating the need for proprietary equipment.
5. Streamlined customization
With SDN and NFV, customers can quickly deploy the networking infrastructure needed—virtually wherever it’s needed. Set up multiple virtual network functions, like a router and firewall, on a single device. This freedom supports customization of the software – tailored to each business site’s needs – by mixing and matching devices and applications from best-of-breed vendors.
At AT&T, we use SDN and NFV capabilities on our own networks. We’ve lowered our costs and greatly increased our network’s flexibility, adaptability and capability.
Your customers can benefit too – with help from you, PlanetOne, and AT&T Solutions. Learn about AT&T FlexWare℠, which helps you take advantage of virtualization on customer networks today.
Johnny Ng is general manager of AT&T Greater China region. He was appointed to the position in January 2010. In this role, Ng is responsible for the marketing, sales and business strategies of AT&T’s Greater China region which includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
