Software-defined networks ease Wi-Fi deployment, says Avaya

DUBAI: US-based business communications provider Avaya said that software-defined networks help operators deploy Wi-Fi quickly and is a key enabler of many public-safety services.

Avaya is banking on its software-defined network (SDN) strategy which it said is a key development today with many pilots underway worldwide.

SDN is a new technological approach that offers programmable network control over virtual and physical network devices and eliminates multi-layer process to dynamically serve changing business needs.

“Software-defined network is a trend. It makes Wi-Fi deployment easier. Many smart city services for public-safety such as location-based emergency services make SDN imperative,” vice president and chief technologist, Software Defined Architecture at Avaya Jean Turgeon said.

The company also said that they are almost “two-years ahead” of competitors such as Cisco and Juniper – with no SDN capability beyond data centres, while Avaya has comprehensive solutions.

Software-based network offers IT team to get end-to-end control over Wi-Fi and with cloud-based wireless capabilities, manages on-premise access points. In addition it facilitates seamless connectivity.

Avaya is adopting a customer-first strategy for tailored approach to serve enterprise needs and said that network access, scalability and elasticity would be critical as connected devices are expected to increase multifold.

Research firm Gartner in its study estimates that 4.9 billion connected devices or things would be in use by 2015, up 30% from 2014, and will reach to 25 billion by 2020.

In order to spread awareness about SDN technology, Avaya is also embarking on educational programs on SDN-Fabric based networking aimed at hardware-intensive networking technologies and next-generation, software-defined fabric-based networking.