Why Network Compliance Matters

In the communications technology industry, there is often too much emphasis put on technology products as magic bullets to solve complex problems. The bottom line is that most networks are complicated endeavors that can’t be solved by a single magic bullet – they need a thoughtful, operational approach using a combination of solutions that play well together.

As software-defined innovation in cloud networking accelerates, telecommunications networks, enterprise networks, and cloud networks are starting to become increasingly integrated. In the future, we all assume that most networks will be built on a foundation of cloud interconnectivity, applications programming interfaces (APIs), and software-based connectivity. But as enterprise, cloud, and telecommunications networks start to merge, we can’t forget the operational approach used in the past to supervise the network and make sure everything works together.

The answer to making sure this happens includes the age-old networking approach known as compliance and validation, in which networks are continuously monitored, tested, and placed into a system of operational supervision. This is essential to deliver a superior network experience with fewer faults and security risks.

Cloud Services Lead the Way

Why do we need to think about operational compliance and validation now? Networks are being connected at an increased rate – putting more demands on operational consistency. As the number of devices, networks, and cloud services explode, this challenge will only increase over time. The only way to manage it will be to improve network operations by automating network compliance and validation.

Think of the number of services and networks your organization will connect to, whether that’s enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, cloud security services or Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) offerings, or public communications networks. As network managers and practitioners connect these diverse together, they need a way to ensure compliance and security in a world of multiple and hybrid cloud network connectivity.

Crucial to this concept is the idea of not only making networks more programmable, but also enforcing network compliance and validation. If you make a network programmable but you can’t also ensure that it’s continually tested for compliance and validation, what’s the point?

In exploring this topic with Itential, it’s become clear to me that operational approaches such as compliance and validation are often left out of the picture with the introduction of new cloud networking products. You can plug in the magic bullet, but you also need to validate and test it. After all, network practitioners are rarely in the position to rip-and-replace large swaths of their network. As they move to modern, software-based cloud networking technology, they need a way to evolve their network to make sure all the pieces continue to work together, including legacy components.

In traditional networks, there are key concepts known as compliance and validation to make sure that once things are connected, they are connected correctly, and they can be observed and tracked. As new, automated multi-cloud networking technologies are adopted, they will need this type of supervision, which we can define as such:

• Compliance: The capability to log and report what has changed in the past.
• Validation: Capability to prevent compliance violations from entering the network in the future.

Managers need these tools to make sure the network is configured and monitored correctly, according to best practices. They use these tools to gain visibility and trust and operationalize the network, particularly when networks are connecting with a wide range of vendor equipment and different types of networks (public cloud, private data center, e.t.c.).

The evolution of virtualization and programmable networks as arguably sill it its early days. In order to deliver on the promise of programmable networks and modern, API-based approach to connecting clouds and networks, network practitioners need help in the compliance and validation department. They also still need to support Command Line Interface (CLI) will need to move to a new way of handling networking configuration and change management (NCCM) tools, which have been used to enforce network compliance within the enterprise for decades.

To summarize, as software-based networking and automation evolve, networking professionals still need to make sure things are done correctly. As they plug in new boxes, software-based frameworks, and cloud services to their network, they will need to make sure this new technology plays nice and adheres to operational and compliance protocols – while supporting legacy installed networks as well.

Futuriom has worked on a new Leadership Brief with Itential, in which we explain how Itential’s software-based network automation approach helps enabled operationalize cloud networking and build trust and compliance for networking in a multi-cloud world.