SDN and IoT drive huge structural changes in networks. IoT is the key to increasing enterprise revenue

According to foreign media reports, the telecommunications industry's demand for data is showing an accelerating growth trend. Cisco Visual Networking Index pointed out that global mobile data traffic increased by 63% in 2016.

Today's customers expect Internet access anytime, anywhere, from any device with bandwidth capable of handling video and high-speed data. Service providers are under greater pressure than ever to optimize their infrastructure.

There are two factors that affect infrastructure changes: one is the migration to software-defined networks (SDN), and the other is the surge in new bandwidth demand generated by the development of the Internet of Things (IoT). Carol McDonald, a solution architect at California open source big data technology company MapR Technologies, pointed out that software-defined networks promise to reduce operating costs and increase flexibility, but the migration expenses involved are huge.

The Internet of Things will increase the pressure on network capacity planning, while also bringing in very attractive new revenue streams. Both technologies are expected to cause major structural changes to existing networks.

[[194146]]

Software Defined Networking

Software-defined networking has been one of the major disruptive technologies driving innovation in the telecommunications industry. Service providers are struggling to increase their network speeds to keep up with growing customer demand, and the cost of upgrading from 3G to 4G and now migrating to 5G is extremely high.

Over the next 10 years, the cost of upgrading to 5G network infrastructure is expected to exceed $100 billion. In addition, in an era where time is money, the time it takes to achieve the transformation of hardware network equipment is difficult to control.

The solution required for this process is Network Function Virtualization (NFV), where network functions are no longer tied to physical infrastructure. Software Defined Networking goes a step further. With software defined networking, all powerful functions are embedded in the software, which means that telecom service providers can replace dedicated computers with commodity hardware.

Software-defined networking is one of the key factors in managing the costs associated with the surge in data traffic. This white box model not only significantly reduces costs, but also allows providers to respond more flexibly to changing market demands. AT&T estimates that the company will save 40%-50% of operating expenses by using software-defined networking.

Looking ahead, software-defined networking is becoming a mainstream solution for cloud and network architectures because it enables service providers to deploy cost-effective white-box solutions at scale.

Internet of Things

IDC estimates that 28 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. Although IoT is one of the most bandwidth-hungry technologies, it presents a huge opportunity for service providers.

Telecommunications service providers have long been collecting information on network bandwidth statistics, wireless data usage, customer calling patterns, location data, applications accessed by mobile devices, etc. Until recently, much of this data ended up being thrown away because it was expensive to store and difficult to extract value from.

Telecom service providers are now leveraging this data, along with stream processing and predictive analytics, at a state-of-the-art level to optimize their network performance. This data can also help service providers reduce costs through preventive maintenance, allowing equipment problems to be diagnosed early and avoiding expensive on-site repairs. By capturing data streams from devices connected to the Internet, service providers can identify potential fault areas and dispatch repair personnel before problems occur.

In addition, big data and IoT can bring other operational benefits, such as more efficient call routing, thereby reducing customer waiting times.

Demand forecasting can help operators better prepare for infrastructure upgrades. Real-time call detail record analysis can identify service issues and predict capacity needs. Proactive customer care will notify customers of service issues or provide incentives to help prevent customer churn.

At a time when the telecommunications industry is experiencing stagnant growth, big data, and the Internet of Things in particular, could be the key to increasing revenue for companies in the industry.

Looking ahead

It is only a matter of time before software-defined networking and big data intersect. A key aspect of software-defined networking is network automation through programmability. New data platforms can be leveraged to provide deeper intelligence management about the state of the network and the applications running on the software-defined network infrastructure in real time.