A Compass Through SDN Networks

The term Software Defined Networking (SDN) is prevalent in todays discussion about future communication networks. However, no consistent definition regarding this technology has formed, yet. The fragmented view on SDN results in legacy products being passed off by equipment vendors as SDN, academics mixing up the attributes of SDN with those of network virtualization, and users not fully understanding the benefits. Therefore,establishing SDN as a widely adopted technology beyond laboratories and insular deployments requires a compass to navigate the multitude of ideas and concepts that make up SDN today. The contribution of this research report is twofold. First, it gives a thoroug definition of SDN and its interfaces and a list of its key attributes. Second, it provides a mapping of interfaces and attributes to SDN use cases and highlights their relevance on a per-scenario basis. Thus, this report guides a potential adopter of SDN, whether SDN is in fact the right technology for his arbitrary use case.