Software automation is not automatic software as such. Software automation is our means of describing automatic elements inside wider software systems, software applications, smaller software agents and wider software architectures that can be programmed to produce defined automatic responses and controls based upon environmental conditions within the wider realm of the total system’s operational flow.
Technology analyst house IDC points us to recognise and realise that we now stand at the point of increased use of specialised increasingly automated management tools inside datacentre networks.
Deployed intelligently, this layer of technology can a) allow different parts of the software-defined datacentre technology stack to work well in unison and b) provide the necessary layers of separation between compute and storage parts in the total IT stack to ensure operational efficiency is maximised.
Stepping stones to automation
IDC views specialised tool adoption as a stepping stone toward end-to-end management and finally automation — the firm argues that as soon as enterprises see the efficiency gains that these kinds of specialised tools provide, the focus will turn to end-to-end management and automation.
According to IDC, “This notion is also illustrated in the current levels of automation across general IT infrastructure and networking in particular, where the use of automation, particularly in DC networking, is higher than the use of automation in IT infrastructure overall.”
Where automation manifests itself
Software automation controls will form part of intelligent network architectures inside the modern software-defined datacentre. Where some automation will be tasked with responsibilities for core monitoring and reporting functions, more sophisticated automation will perform a basic level of remedial service where problems occur.
These ‘problems’ may not mechanical issues as such; it is more likely that automation controls will be tasked with jobs such as reapportioning and rechannelling data to avoid bottlenecks when and where they occur.
Automation as a ‘key five’ factor
In the new and contemporary software-defined datacentre we see automation line up alongside four other key paradigm-shifting trends, together these are the key five factors reshaping our networks
- Automation
- Software-defined networking (SDN)
- Network virtualisation (including NFV)
- Open networking standards
- An end-to-end infrastructure management
We can reasonably expect enterprises to adopt SDN, open networking, network function virtualisation and the associated trends of automation and end-to-end infrastructure management quickly, once certain conditions are met both a) in individual use cases and b) across the market as a whole.
A ‘cautious increase’ for automation
According to IDC, a dominant view on the future of automation is a cautious increase. In a recent survey the analyst house found that for general IT, 56% of respondents indicated that they plan to adopt a bit more automation and 3% said they plan to automate a lot more.
So are automation controls actually robots? Well yes, in a sort of virtualised abstracted non-physical software-defined world, they actually are. An easier question is… are automation controls an increasing part of our future networks – and the answer is yes.
Adrian Bridgwater
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Tags: Software, Technology