Software defined networking gains government ground

By Kevin Shaker, analyst

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is making headway in next-generation government infrastructure, creating opportunities for technology companies that want to target this new growth area.

Much of SDN’s public sector growth has come from increasing demands from Congress to reduce costs while continuing to deliver new and innovative services to a growing and diverse citizen base. Unfortunately, many agencies are still relying on outdated legacy infrastructure.

SDN allows public sector organizations to create multiple virtual networks from a single physical one. While some organizations have already implemented fully-functional software defined networks, others are just beginning to scratch the surface.

Here are three agencies that are working on their SDN strategy:

Army
The Army is revamping its network infrastructure so that by 2040 every chain of command will be able to access its network from any location. Soldiers will be able to receive, process, and disseminate commands and data to every component of command. Army’s Chief Information Officer, Lt. Gen. Robert Ferrell, has stressed that SDN technologies will be important in how the Army accomplished this goal, giving engineers the ability to control the network in the cloud.

National Security Agency (NSA)
NSA has a network that continues to grow larger to support the bandwidth for its employees working on and off premises. The organization is pushing for refined SDN technologies to replace its outdated network in the next few years. NSA’s technical director for enterprise connectivity has emphasized how the technology will also give administrators better control and visibility into NSA’s network, allowing the agency to maintain a secure environment for its sensitive and classified information.

Social Security Administration (SSA)
SSA has big plans in FY17 to replace its severely outdated IT architecture with newer technology. It’s also transitioning some of its IT to the cloud and development of five new SSA systems. SSA Chief Information Officer, Rob Klopp, has said in order to reach this goal at SSA and reduce the number of administrators needed to the run the system, the organization will need to modernize the network infrastructure with virtualization, cloud, and SDN technology.

Hear more about government’s IT strategy at immixGroup’s Government IT Sales Summit tomorrow at the Hyatt Regency Reston. There’s still time to sign up!