Open Network Featured Article

While software defined networking (SDN) hasn't made quite the splash of its close cohort in the field, network functions virtualization (NFV), there's little doubt that it's gained its share of ground over the last couple of years and is becoming a bigger part of operations. Finding people qualified to work with SDN is proving difficult on some fronts, and Ecode Networks is out to make it a little easier with a newly-launched SDN training and certification course.

Approved by the Open Networking Foundation, Ecode Networks is well-known for its array of management tools and orchestration functions for both SDN and NFV operations. With the new training course, Ecode will offer up ONF-approved SDN courses geared toward both industry professionals and academics wishing to augment skill sets. It starts with an introductory course, featuring some conceptual-level concepts, and works its way up to advanced technical knowledge and skills development.

Users will have the option of taking courses online or meeting with professionals in the field directly for training backed up by self-study options and hands-on operations, which encompasses most every known style of learning. There are some prerequisites to taking these classes, reports note, generally focused on basic networking knowledge and sufficient industry experience to know how legacy systems won't be much help in running SDN.

Ecode founder and CEO Nimit Shishodia commented “SDN is already getting into the mainstream and our customers are facing lack of SD-skills in market to deploy and manage these next-gen networks. We are expecting a growing demand of SD-skills in the near future. Ecode, as an ONF-approved training partner, delivers the high quality SDN certification training programs needed to meet the growing need of network professionals and industry. With the SDN qualifications, we are expecting the resources to work on LIVE projects with us.”

It's easy to forget, sometimes, that SDN is still a comparatively new technology, and not everyone is particularly familiar with it. So getting training courses in mind to bring people up to speed and address that skills gap Shishodia discussed earlier is important to getting the most out of it. This is a vital field, and the more work we do with it now, the better off we'll be in the long run. SDN, like NFV, has a great potential to improve operations, make for a better network experience, and produce savings for businesses in the process.

In order to take the fullest advantage of SDN, we need to have people in place who understand what it is and what it can—and cannot—do. That makes training a vital necessity, and makes training courses like those offered by Ecode Networks a particularly valuable proposition.