What is Network Orchestration?

Network orchestration is the centralized coordination of network elements and services. It usually involves the use of software and, lately, artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks such as configuration, provisioning, and management of large-scale networks.

Network orchestration is becoming increasingly important as networks become more complex and dynamic. Network operators use it to automate and simplify network management in order to save time and money, improve service levels, and reduce the risk of human errors.

Benefits of network orchestration

Effortless operations: When managing a large-scale network, network orchestration can help to automate repetitive tasks and reduce complexity regarding policy enforcement across all network domains. Furthermore, it can help to improve scalability by making it easier to add new devices and services.

Improved network availability: Network orchestration can help reduce the number of outages and resolve problems quickly by ensuring that network devices are configured correctly. This is achieved by leveraging automation, which can reduce the risk of human errors.

Enhanced agility and flexibility: In today’s complex network landscape, various factors such as multi-cloud environments, remote work setups, increasing capacity demands, AI and the internet of things (IoT) are driving network operators to enhance their capabilities rapidly. To tackle these challenges, network orchestration platforms come to the rescue. They enable network operators to effortlessly add new devices, modify cross-network policies and configurations, and swiftly implement any business requirements into the network, faster than ever before.

Challenges of network orchestration

While network orchestration offers many benefits, there are some key challenges that organizations need to consider before implementation:

• Complex integration: Integrating network orchestration into existing infrastructures can be a complex task on its own, especially in legacy environments.
• Vendor interoperability: Ensuring interoperability among diverse network devices and vendors can be challenging. Organizations should prefer solutions that embrace open standards as they facilitate seamless integration within any network.
• Security risks: Centralized network control can create a vulnerable single point of failure, making it an attractive target for cyber attacks. To safeguard the orchestration infrastructure, robust and comprehensive security measures must be implemented.
• Lack of skills: Network orchestration is a complex and technical process that introduces a new user environment for networking professionals. Organizations must invest in training their workforce to handle automated environments effectively and should prefer vendors that can provide support and training.
• Costs: Network orchestration platforms and their integration process can be expensive. This is because they typically require high-performance hardware and a team of skilled engineers to integrate and manage them. Organizations should conduct a thorough assessment of their network complexity, security needs, and user database size to determine whether they can truly benefit from adopting such a platform.

DriveNets Network Orchestrator (DNOR)

DriveNets Network Orchestrator (DNOR) is DriveNets’ network orchestration platform. As such, it is designed to address the new challenges brought by the cloud-native, open, distributed network model and revolutionize how networks are deployed and maintained.

DNOR simplifies operations by managing the entire DriveNets Network Cloud solution as a single, integrated network from a single vendor. Unlike traditional solutions, DNOR provides better control, visibility, and insights into the network, including its hardware, firmware, and software containers across clusters and elements. This speeds up troubleshooting, improves availability, and optimizes network performance.

DNOR breaks the monolithic software model with container-level orchestration, making it faster to introduce, deploy, and scale hosted services, whether offered by DriveNets or third parties. By fully utilizing a shared virtualized network infrastructure, DNOR reduces the time to revenue (TTR) for new services and minimizes maintenance windows.

Network orchestration becomes more vital

Network orchestration is the centralized coordination of network elements and services that leverage software and AI to automate tasks like configuring, provisioning, and managing large-scale networks. As networks grow more complex and dynamic, network orchestration becomes increasingly vital as it streamlines management, saves time and money, improves service levels, and reduces human errors. While network orchestration is a powerful tool for organizations, it is crucial to be mindful of its associated challenges before implementation.

Additional Network Orchestration Resources

DriveNets Network Orchestrator DNOR