Any IT professional looking at software-defined networking (SDN) implementation will need to have a long and in-depth discussion about network virtualization (NV) with management tool vendors. Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) research has found that the majority of early adopters have management challenges with NV and SDN, as their standing network management tools do not fully support a virtualized environment.
Many of the IT professionals surveyed are modifying the tools they have to work in a virtualized environment, while many others are acquiring new tools. Based on a survey of early SDN adopters (150 enterprise IT professionals and 76 communication service provider infrastructure professionals), EMA’s report “Managing Tomorrow’s Networks: The Impacts of SDN and Network Virtualization on Network Management” reveals the challenges and benefits of SDN adoption.
Challenges With Both Overlays and Underlays
In the data center, users see a more significant challenge for NV overlays (VMware NSX, Nuage Networks, etc.) than for NV underlays like Cisco ACI or OpenFlow-based solutions from the likes of Big Switch Networks or NEC. For instance, 37 percent of early enterprise adopters said their network planning and engineering tools fully support underlays.
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