Home > Resources > Articles > Is It Time for Open Source SD-WAN?

Is It Time for Open Source SD-WAN?

ALI LONGWELL | May 23, 2019 | 170 views

The benefits of an open market may sound worthwhile — flexibility, speed, cost-saving, freedom, scalability, neutrality — but there are certain corners of the greater technology and software industry where openness has not quite reached, including SD-WAN. In recent months it seems that there are certainly components, use case, and even companies — flexiWAN joined the market in April with plans to build an open architecture for SD-WAN — arising as examples for open SD-WANs, but open source has yet to be adopted fully into the networking technology. And though in some ways it seems that open source is right around the corner, it could be further away than expected. There is even some debate as to whether SD-WAN needs open source, but it’s worth discussing how openness could help the technology.

Spotlight

Network Intelligence (I) Pvt. Ltd.

Network Intelligence, incorporated in 2001, is ISO 27001, PCI-QSA company a committed and well-recognized provider of services, solutions and products in the IT Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance space. Our professionals have made a mark for themselves with highly satisfied clients all across the globe supported by our offices in India and the Middle East. As an ISO 27001-certified company ourselves, we are strongly positioned to understand your needs and deliver the right answers to your security and compliance requirements.

OTHER ARTICLES
DATA CENTER NETWORKING

Ericsson’s 5G platform adds unique core and business communication capabilities

Article | August 10, 2022

To leverage the full benefits of 5G and cloud native investments, orchestration and automation are now a critical matter of business. Ericsson’s 5G platform is now being strengthened with new solutions that enable smarter business. David Bjore, Head of R&D and Portfolio, Business Area Digital Services, Ericsson, says: “Through our core networks, service providers can get to market faster and can capitalize on new services, through leading consumer and enterprise communication and monetization solutions, enabling them to stay ahead in the race for 5G business, today and tomorrow.”

Read More
NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Ericsson researchers top 4.3Gbps downlink on 5G millimeter wave

Article | July 11, 2022

With a technical specification comprising 8 component carriers (8CC) aggregating 800MHz of millimeter wave spectrum, Ericsson engineers achieved delivery rates of 4.3Gbps – the fastest 5G speed to date. Ericsson Radio System Street Macro 6701 delivered data with downlink speeds of 4.3Gbps over-the-air to an industry partner test device during interoperability testing. The commercial solution, including network and terminal support, will be available to 5G consumers during 2020.

Read More
NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

Intelligence Brief: How is 5G changing network ownership?

Article | October 7, 2022

5G necessitates a different network strategy. Unlike previous generations, 5G deployment is not only about adding more sites and increasing backhaul capacity. In fact, it is more about rethinking the whole network architecture to make it agile. The high capacity requirements of 5G will necessitate the use of small cells in cities and areas of high footfall (such as airports) to complement national macro networks. Private networks (for example to sell into enterprise customers) and the concept of a neutral host (such as for sports stadiums) are further examples of diversification.

Read More

5G Needs Edge Computing to Deliver on Its Promises

Article | February 11, 2020

Edge computing will be a key enabler for 5G to deliver on its bandwidth and latency requirements. In the short term, it can enable developers to provide a “5G experience” at scale. In the long term, it will be necessary to optimise customer experience for real-time, data hungry applications. Telecoms operators have reported that 5G in the lab can deliver network speeds that are more than twenty times faster than LTE1. But, this does not reflect the experience of the average user. And 5G roll out in many countries will be limited in terms of coverage and capabilities for several more years, given that the ultra-low latency standards will only be revealed in 3GPP’s Release 16 later this year. This is why it is likely that, for 5G to deliver on its promises, it must be coupled with edge computing.

Read More
DATA CENTER NETWORKING

Why Should You Choose an Added Protection Layer with a VPN?

Article | August 10, 2022

To leverage the full benefits of 5G and cloud native investments, orchestration and automation are now a critical matter of business. Ericsson’s 5G platform is now being strengthened with new solutions that enable smarter business. David Bjore, Head of R&D and Portfolio, Business Area Digital Services, Ericsson, says: “Through our core networks, service providers can get to market faster and can capitalize on new services, through leading consumer and enterprise communication and monetization solutions, enabling them to stay ahead in the race for 5G business, today and tomorrow.”

Read More
NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Network as a Service (NaaS): A Technology Businesses Need Today

Article | July 11, 2022

With a technical specification comprising 8 component carriers (8CC) aggregating 800MHz of millimeter wave spectrum, Ericsson engineers achieved delivery rates of 4.3Gbps – the fastest 5G speed to date. Ericsson Radio System Street Macro 6701 delivered data with downlink speeds of 4.3Gbps over-the-air to an industry partner test device during interoperability testing. The commercial solution, including network and terminal support, will be available to 5G consumers during 2020.

Read More
NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

5G Enterprise Private Network: 9 Ways to Scale Your Business

Article | October 7, 2022

5G necessitates a different network strategy. Unlike previous generations, 5G deployment is not only about adding more sites and increasing backhaul capacity. In fact, it is more about rethinking the whole network architecture to make it agile. The high capacity requirements of 5G will necessitate the use of small cells in cities and areas of high footfall (such as airports) to complement national macro networks. Private networks (for example to sell into enterprise customers) and the concept of a neutral host (such as for sports stadiums) are further examples of diversification.

Read More

5G Needs Edge Computing to Deliver on Its Promises

Article | February 11, 2020

Edge computing will be a key enabler for 5G to deliver on its bandwidth and latency requirements. In the short term, it can enable developers to provide a “5G experience” at scale. In the long term, it will be necessary to optimise customer experience for real-time, data hungry applications. Telecoms operators have reported that 5G in the lab can deliver network speeds that are more than twenty times faster than LTE1. But, this does not reflect the experience of the average user. And 5G roll out in many countries will be limited in terms of coverage and capabilities for several more years, given that the ultra-low latency standards will only be revealed in 3GPP’s Release 16 later this year. This is why it is likely that, for 5G to deliver on its promises, it must be coupled with edge computing.

Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Spotlight

Network Intelligence (I) Pvt. Ltd.

Network Intelligence, incorporated in 2001, is ISO 27001, PCI-QSA company a committed and well-recognized provider of services, solutions and products in the IT Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance space. Our professionals have made a mark for themselves with highly satisfied clients all across the globe supported by our offices in India and the Middle East. As an ISO 27001-certified company ourselves, we are strongly positioned to understand your needs and deliver the right answers to your security and compliance requirements.

Related News

Cisco ties its security/SD-WAN gear with Teridion’s cloud WAN service

Network World | May 23, 2019

Cisco and Teridion have tied the knot to deliver faster enterprise software-defined WAN services. The agreement links Cisco Meraki MX Security/SD-WAN appliances and its Auto VPN technology which lets users quickly bring up and configure secure sessions between branches and data centers with Teridion’s cloud-based WAN service. Teridion’s service promises customers better performance and control over traffic running from remote offices over the public internet to the data center. The service features what Teridion calls “Curated Routing” which fuses WAN acceleration techniques with route optimization to speed traffic. For example, Teridion says its WAN service can accelerate TCP-based applications like file transfers, backups and page loads, by as much as three to five times.

Read More

Tempering Open Source Expectations in 5G

SDxCentral | May 23, 2019

5G presents network operators with a new framework that lends itself to open source technologies that can play an important and defining role in how services are architected, maintained, and operated. While open source is making an impact on the software layer of 5G networks, the vision for open source networking is much more grandiose. Open source’s ultimate impact on 5G will likely fall somewhere in the middle — heralding new ways for operators to piece together networks and services, but well short of the utopian, completely disaggregated future some have envisioned. Operators have long complained about the lack of choice and vendor lock-in that results from having a small group of entrenched vendors to buy equipment and networking services. Open source will change that dynamic in small areas of the radio access network (RAN), but its mark will be much greater in the services layer or what many call the “softwarization” of the network — service orchestration, automation, network slicing, and mobile edge computing.

Read More

On 5G wireless: Key technological, economic, and security questions

Publication | May 24, 2019

AEI colleague Shane Tews will host a public event analyzing the future of 5G wireless and related technological, economic, and security implications. Over the past two weeks, a cascade of events has made this discussion extremely timely — not least the US decision to ban sales of equipment to Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company that dominates competition for 5G backbone technology. Many observers have labeled this action as the opening gun of a larger, protracted war for future technological supremacy. The rollout and sweeping economic advances associated with 5G will be central to determining the outcome of this competition. Here are some questions for the experts taking part in the event to answer or puzzle over. In banning the use of 5G backbone equipment from Huawei, how confident is the Trump administration that Ericsson and Nokia can fill the gap expeditiously, and with equipment that matches Huawei in technological sophistication and cost? Further, has the administration any plans to boost the fortunes and competitiveness of Ericsson or Nokia? And is 5G nationalization really off the table?

Read More

Cisco ties its security/SD-WAN gear with Teridion’s cloud WAN service

Network World | May 23, 2019

Cisco and Teridion have tied the knot to deliver faster enterprise software-defined WAN services. The agreement links Cisco Meraki MX Security/SD-WAN appliances and its Auto VPN technology which lets users quickly bring up and configure secure sessions between branches and data centers with Teridion’s cloud-based WAN service. Teridion’s service promises customers better performance and control over traffic running from remote offices over the public internet to the data center. The service features what Teridion calls “Curated Routing” which fuses WAN acceleration techniques with route optimization to speed traffic. For example, Teridion says its WAN service can accelerate TCP-based applications like file transfers, backups and page loads, by as much as three to five times.

Read More

Tempering Open Source Expectations in 5G

SDxCentral | May 23, 2019

5G presents network operators with a new framework that lends itself to open source technologies that can play an important and defining role in how services are architected, maintained, and operated. While open source is making an impact on the software layer of 5G networks, the vision for open source networking is much more grandiose. Open source’s ultimate impact on 5G will likely fall somewhere in the middle — heralding new ways for operators to piece together networks and services, but well short of the utopian, completely disaggregated future some have envisioned. Operators have long complained about the lack of choice and vendor lock-in that results from having a small group of entrenched vendors to buy equipment and networking services. Open source will change that dynamic in small areas of the radio access network (RAN), but its mark will be much greater in the services layer or what many call the “softwarization” of the network — service orchestration, automation, network slicing, and mobile edge computing.

Read More

On 5G wireless: Key technological, economic, and security questions

Publication | May 24, 2019

AEI colleague Shane Tews will host a public event analyzing the future of 5G wireless and related technological, economic, and security implications. Over the past two weeks, a cascade of events has made this discussion extremely timely — not least the US decision to ban sales of equipment to Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company that dominates competition for 5G backbone technology. Many observers have labeled this action as the opening gun of a larger, protracted war for future technological supremacy. The rollout and sweeping economic advances associated with 5G will be central to determining the outcome of this competition. Here are some questions for the experts taking part in the event to answer or puzzle over. In banning the use of 5G backbone equipment from Huawei, how confident is the Trump administration that Ericsson and Nokia can fill the gap expeditiously, and with equipment that matches Huawei in technological sophistication and cost? Further, has the administration any plans to boost the fortunes and competitiveness of Ericsson or Nokia? And is 5G nationalization really off the table?

Read More

Events