Last week it was announced that Chinese technology company Huawei had purchased Amartus’ SDN business. Amartus are a Dublin based software company who also provide SDN service solutions. For those that don’t know, SDN stands for Software Defined Networking which gives network administrators a way to manage their equipment remotely, whilst being able to run equipment from different vendors from a single central console.
SDN is possibly one of the most exciting developments in networking since the internet was launched. It simplifies networking; things have been done the same for decades and while the system works well enough, advancement is always inevitable and necessary. SDN will eliminate the need to physically move switches and routers to change aspects of the network. Everything will be managed remotely from a central console, thus allowing changes to be made instantly and almost effortlessly.
Whilst Huawei have been in business almost 30 years, they initially only operated in their native country of China. The first time I ever heard of them was while working for the mobile network 3, on the release of their revolutionary mobile broadband dongles which allowed users to access the internet through a dongle over the mobile network. Since then, I have seen more and more from this Chinese company.
The purchase of Amartus seems like a very wise move for Huawei; SDN has the potential to be the most disruptive thing in networking we have ever seen. This purchase will help Huawei steam ahead with their SDN development, introducing multi-vendor capability to businesses across the globe, positioning them at the forefront of this networking revolution.
Zha Jun, President of Huawei’s Fixed Network Product Line, said “We are delighted to have acquired the ground breaking Amartus technology. The expertise and talented staff from Amartus product group who will be joining Huawei will help deliver our commitment to produce and develop innovative and high quality cloud and network services.”
For years, networking has revolved around connectivity and the networks themselves. SDN shakes it up entirely, putting the apps at the forefront which allows for huge transformations in networking.
At the moment, the technology is still in its early phases, with businesses unsure of the route it is heading down and its full capabilities. As work on the system continues and adoption increases, the benefits to businesses will become more evident. Over the last few years, many changes have been seen in the ICT sector such as the surge in VoIP adoption and cloud computing, and SDN allows networking to catch up.
Michael Kearns, the CEO of Amartus said, “We are excited to be able to bring this innovative technology to Huawei at a time when the telecoms industry is experiencing unprecedented change, driven by software”.
By 2016, the SDN market is expected to be worth $3.7 billion, which is a huge jump from the $360 million it was valued at in 2013.
When businesses implement SDN technologies, they will see cost saving efforts in the form of routers and switches when the control is moved away from them to a central control unit.
Businesses will also be freed from the shackles of specific suppliers; switches, controllers and applications will all be available from different companies and will integrate seamlessly. It will also increase productivity massively; no more will businesses be at the mercy of the networking guys who take considerable time to get new servers etc up and running on the network. With physical movement of hardware no longer necessary, everything can become more streamlined and efficient.
Of course, there will be losers in the game, with networking companies losing out on margins when customers are no longer required to purchase additional equipment and upgrades from them. Undoubtedly, they will move with the times and develop new means of turning a profit. For all other businesses, SDN is the way forward and we look forward to seeing where it goes.