The second installment of Dan Pitt’s predictions for SDN in 2015.
The SDN and OpenFlow® World Congress is in full swing here in Germany, and just as I predicted, ONF’s SDN Solutions Showcase is a big hit. Check out this live stream from the showcase floor to get a taste of Germany wherever you are.
But the SDN Solutions Showcase isn’t the only thing I have made predictions about lately. Yesterday I shared two of my predictions for SDN in 2015. Here are the remaining two:
OpenFlow: The Southbound Protocol of Choice
OpenFlow® has gained great hardware support, and this support goes beyond OpenFlow® v1.0. In fact, ONF is already seeing notable support for OpenFlow® v1.3; we announced today some of the companies that are participating in our pilot conformance testing program. OpenFlow® has never been the most interesting part of SDN for network operators – that’s the preserve of the application, orchestration, VNF, and policy software that brings direct business value from the network – but it’s the enabler of all that value. It’s the signaling that connects the thinking (the apps) to the doing (the packet processing). The progression of OpenFlow® will allow the industry to stop jumping through hoops to avoid the protocol.
SDN Skills to Take Center Stage
Changes taking place within the IT profession have been a topic of conversation for a few years. The knowledge, skills, and abilities required throughout and following this transition will skew toward software rather than hardware. And no matter how you try to avoid it, SDN is happening. But widespread industry adoption can hardly happen without knowledgeable people leading the way in implementation and deployment, so skills training has to grow faster than actual adoption. Having skills training implemented industry-wide will mean that more IT professionals will be able to grow and expand with the industry, rather than being a step behind. In 2015, skills training will kick into gear.
In 2014, we saw first-hand the progress SDN has made in achieving mainstream adoption. We’re excited to continue to support the SDN movement through our work with both vendors and end users to further establish standards within the industry. These predictions have already taken the first steps toward being actualized, and I believe that they will really take off in the coming year. What an exciting time for the industry!
- Dan Pitt, Executive Director
