Next generation networks – Open, intent based and programmable.
Open, extensible, programmable – terms that are for the first time being associated with networks. Network as a platform brings in a lot of possibilities.
As a simple example, consider this scenario. An application that could monitor the activity of a host and based on the activity determine if the host is compromised with malware and then automatically take an action of quarantining the host or limiting the host’s access to the network, and all this by using northbound RESP APIs exposed by the network platform.
Applications like these can now take advantage of the network and become more effective. There are APIs that can give you information about the network with port and packet level granularity. Equipped with such information, very interesting applications can be written that not only monitory networks for health, performance, security but also for taking actions based on some insights. With data comes the power of making real time decisions in the network. With the network becoming extensible and programmable, it is no longer a silo just offering connectivity and speeds. It has the power now to be integrated with different IT and network system processes.
The open platform and the developer ecosystem is now available for anyone to create business, security and monitoring applications.