SDN Insights | Sumble

What is SDN?

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a network architecture approach that enables the network to be intelligently and centrally controlled, or 'programmed,' using software applications. This helps operators manage the entire network consistently and holistically, regardless of the underlying network technology. SDN decouples the data plane (forwarding data) from the control plane (routing decisions), centralizing network intelligence and programmability. It's commonly used to improve network agility, reduce operational costs, and enable innovation by providing a flexible and programmable network infrastructure.

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What other technologies are related to SDN?

SDN Competitor Technologies

MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a data-carrying technique for high-performance telecommunications networks. It is a competitor because it provides traffic engineering capabilities that SDN also addresses, often as a legacy alternative.

mentioned alongside SDN in 6% (3k) of relevant job posts

Cisco ACI

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is a competitor because it's a comprehensive SDN solution that offers its own architecture and approach to network automation and management, providing an alternative to open SDN implementations.

mentioned alongside SDN in 10% (1.1k) of relevant job posts

ACI

Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is a competitor because it's a comprehensive SDN solution that offers its own architecture and approach to network automation and management, providing an alternative to open SDN implementations.

mentioned alongside SDN in 10% (843) of relevant job posts

SDN Complementary Technologies

NFV

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) complements SDN by virtualizing network functions, allowing them to run on commodity hardware. SDN provides the control plane, while NFV provides the data plane infrastructure.

mentioned alongside SDN in 67% (3.1k) of relevant job posts

BGP

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a routing protocol that can be used in conjunction with SDN to control traffic flow and routing decisions. SDN can provide a centralized control plane to manage BGP policies.

mentioned alongside SDN in 5% (4.3k) of relevant job posts

OSPF

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol that, like BGP, can be used in conjunction with SDN, although SDN often aims to replace or augment traditional routing protocols with a centralized control.

mentioned alongside SDN in 5% (3.6k) of relevant job posts