THE ROLE OF SDN IN IP NETWORK EVOLUTION

The Web has changed everything. In the span of less than two decades, the network has moved from a means of making voice calls and moving data from point A to point B to a platform by which a rapidly changing array of services and content integral to our daily lives are delivered. As consumers have come to rely on these services, they expect access to them to be ubiquitous, immediate, predictable, and reliable. New services appear daily, some gaining huge user bases seemingly overnight, making usage and traffic patterns completely unpredictable. The infrastructure of the past is not ready to accommodate this paradigm. In order to meet today's demands, the network must be capable of adapting quickly, automatically, and economically. Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are the technologies that will enable this flexibility. This paper describes the role that will be played by SDN in all areas of IP networking, including its role as a key enabler for NFV. Various scenarios of how SDN and NVF technology will be introduced into the network are described, and several use cases are presented to illustrate how SDN and NFV will make the network more agile, programmable, and optimized to meet the specific needs of applications and users. The Web was born from a few pioneers that repurposed an existing infrastructure in a new way. Who can say what new disruption will occur as a few pioneers use this new dynamic, programmable network infrastructure to change everything yet again.