What Is Networking Software?

Networking software enables the control, management, and monitoring of networks.

Why is networking software needed?

As networks grow in complexity and importance, delivering business-critical applications to employees and customers, managing them and maintaining business agility become more challenging.

Networking software—along with the software-defined networks (SDNs) it creates—helps engineers respond to those challenges by enabling the creation of intent-based networks (IBNs).

IBNs reduce IT workload and deployment time, make more-efficient use of resources, and enhance agility. They deliver those benefits by automatically translating business objectives into custom network configurations.

What is software-defined networking (SDN)?

SDN is the practice of using software in place of hardware to define, deploy, and manage an enterprise network. The advantages of SDN are greater flexibility and agility, reduced workload through automation, and less downtime related to deployments.

What is intent-based networking (IBN)?

Generally speaking, IBN is the goal of SDN. As users, devices, and distributed applications have grown in number, the networking environment has become exponentially more complex. IBN transforms a hardware-centric, manual network into a controller-led network. The network can then capture business intent and translate it into policies that can be automated and applied consistently.

In what areas does networking software help to solve problems?

  • Visibility. Networking software provides a complete picture of the network by aggregating network data in a visual interface. Using this visibility, IT teams leverage deep analytics and applied intelligence for troubleshooting, remediation, and assurance.
  • Integrity and accuracy. Networking software makes automation and continuous monitoring possible. Those capabilities sharply reduce the chances of human error and help to cut unplanned network changes out of the process.
  • Agility. Networking software helps IT teams build the agile, responsive networks that organizations reliant on cloud applications and services need. Such agility can help organizations enhance productivity, deliver for customers, and stay competitive.
  • IT workloads. The central interface and automation capabilities of networking software can free IT teams from the repetitive, time-consuming work of configuring and updating policies across complex networks.
  • Application and network hierarchy. Rigid network configurations place limits on applications and their deployments. But networks defined by networking software are by nature optimized and right-sized for applications. This results in better performance and flexibility and less waste of resources.
  • Network security management..Complex networks have complex security needs. Networking software's automation and monitoring benefits extend to security as well.
  • Hardware obsolescence. Networking software enables new features and capabilities to be installed on existing hardware. This makes hardware more flexible and extends its life span.

Capabilities of networking software

Defining and configuring intent-based networks

Networking software receives intent instructions and translates them into policies that define the network.


Automation

Automation empowers IT teams to push out new network configurations more quickly and more accurately, enhancing agility.


Continuous validation and adjustment

Validation is achieved through analytics and machine learning to continuously monitor the network. The validation process verifies that the desired intents have been applied and the business outcomes are being achieved.


Continuous updates through subscriptions

When networking software is acquired through subscriptions, feature upgrades and security updates can be made on demand. As a result, networks stay up to date.


Interoperability and compatibility

Today's networks involve more vendors and operating systems than ever. Networking software sees them all, providing a way to manage and monitor diverse resources efficiently.

Benefits of networking software

Agility

Networking software enables rapid response to changing business objectives. It does so by supporting faster deployments, updates, and fixes.


Transparency

Networking software monitors network performance by collecting and analyzing usage data. Potential problems can be spotted early and resolved before they become serious issues.


Resilience

Systems that respond quickly to help achieve everyday business objectives will better position organizations to respond to adverse conditions or unanticipated circumstances.


Better use of resources

The transparency provided by monitoring and data collection helps prevent issues and optimize performance. It can also help ensure the efficient use of all network resources.