© Illustration: Oliver Burston
NETWORKING FEATURE
NO SDN FOR SMBS?
Despite the touted cost
savings and operational
effi ciencies it can deliver,
SDN deployments have so far
typically been restricted to
enterprise-size organisations
and large service providers.
This is because SDN
“requires investment and a
change in strategic thinking”,
says Hockin, with the benefi ts
only achieved at scale.
“This may change as
these services become
more commoditised, as
virtualisation has over the
last 10 years, and become
more relevant to SMBs, who
are currently happy to deploy
more traditional network
technologies,” he says.
Another reason that there
hasn’t been a greater uptake
of software-centric solutions
within smaller organisations
so far could be tied in to the
channel’s engagement with
customers.
“In reality, softwaredefi
ned should have better
adoption than we have now,”
says Logicalis’ Gabriel.
“In a way, the technology
is not being adopted as fast
as we think it could be, but
that’s because we’re having
an old conversation with
customers around the
new technology. And it’s
not just a new technology,
it’s a new model and value
proposition around the tech
that we’ve got to shift to.
We haven’t explained to
customers why they should
believe in these new models
- so why should they adopt?”
he tells TBT.
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