Allot SDN

Operating in a software-defined world

Unlike many vendors whose expertise is only in the control plane or only in the data plane, Allot solutions have always operated in both control and data planes of the network, and we have years of experience in integrating these two worlds to control service delivery and assure application performance.

As network functions are virtualized, they must be able to work seamlessly with physical network functions that are still in place. Likewise, as operators save money on hardware and operational costs, they must be able to harness the benefits of virtualization to make it easier to monitor, analyze, control, and charge for network services. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is another milestone on that path, and Allot products are evolving in step with the standards to operate in a software-defined world.

SDN needs application awareness

Software-defined networking requires highly granular visibility of application and user transactions in order to manage traffic that is shifting dynamically between applications on physical servers and virtual machines in the data center and in the cloud. This is especially true for Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC) where central provisioning and control decisions must be propagated across multiple, geographically dispersed data centers. The multi-dimensional and granular visibility provided by Allot enables control plane software to make real-time decisions and to meet dynamic service delivery and consistency requirements.

Talking the talk

Allot solutions are designed to keep pace with industry standards and developments in SDN, including the Open Networking Forum and Carrier SDN Framework. Our products support OpenFlow, allowing both physical and virtual deployments to communicate with central controllers.

Walking the walk

Allot has already demonstrated an application-aware SDN approach, showing how the deployment of SDN can be directly monetized. This real carrier use case involves Allot’s virtual Traffic Detection Function (vTDF) deployed centrally on carrier premises and a switch deployed at customer premises (CPE), both communicating with the central SDN controller using OpenFlow. Allot’s vTDF detects and classifies traffic flows, defines the QoS required and updates the SDN controller who then tells the CPE which policy rules to enforce. Centralized, application-aware control of CPE functionality is just one of the many ways that Allot enables emerging SDN architectures to reduce time-to-market for new services, cut operational costs and provide a better user-experience to customers.