In the previous blog post, I shared with you one approach that we initially took to specifying the defining characteristics of SDN. At first blush, it seems easy enough – there are plenty of definitions floating around, how difficult can it be one might ask?
Well, not so fast, is all we can say!
Turns out, when trying to nail down the defining characteristics of SDN, especially when comparing the data-center perspective to the telecom service provider perspective, can be pretty tricky business.
As we found out, there were some significant differences that emerged in a very healthy debate that ensued between the experts we had on Roundtable#1.
We discovered that views of experts varied widely, and what was thought to be fundamental to SDN was a much smaller subset!
The experts included: Mike Fratto (Current Analysis), Kireeti Kompella (Contrail Systems), Justin Dustzadeh (Huawei), Matthew Bocci & Marc Lasserre (Alcatel-Lucent), Casimer DeCusatis (IBM), and I, Vishal Sharma (Metanoia, Inc.). Yaakov Stein (RAD) was finally able to join us towards the very end.
To hear the expert opinions for yourself, you may download Roundtable#1 here (.WAV), or here (,mp3), and may access highlighted transcripts of Roundtable#1 here.
Do you have a definition of SDN? What is it? Does the definition differ, depending on whether we’re talking of the data center or a service provider core IP/MPLS or transport network? Should it differ (or should there be some commonality)?
Do share your comments below, on our Carrier Ethernet Linked In Group (where discussions are ongoing), or register here, and submit your top 3 questions for possible consideration at a subsequent Roundtable or on the Panel (for details, scroll to the bottom of the page) at the MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2013, on March 20th!
Let us hear from you!
Remember: The complete audio files for Roundtable#1 are here (.WAV), or here (,mp3), and the highlighted transcripts are here.
And, don’t forget to jump to the next post in this series here!