Software Defined Networks

Software Defined Networks:

Networking lies in the core of any IT infrastructure. We can't think of any computer based business system which is lacking in networking capabilities. Good networking leads to multi-dimensional growth of a computer based system and any business module relying on it.

So its time to upgrade and expand the network capabilities to meet the growing need of IT industry. The new and upcoming needs of IT industry are changed due to SMAC model of business. Every organization wants to be connected more closely with their customers. Every customer as well as every feedback is important for an organization have an edge over its competitors. This needs very robust and flexible network capabilities from network providers.
As networking devices are costly enough, expansion of network in new areas are quite costly. All these deriving forces gave birth to the advent of "Software Defined Networks".
   SDN comes up with the concept of separating the control logic from the underlying hardware and providing centralized administration to the network. SDN enables improved networking capabilities in cloud data centers.

    From Academic research point of view you can take either  open-source tool NS-3 "Network Simulator-3" or Mininet as your simulation tools and ride of wave of SDN by contributing some good research from your side to the community. NS-3 has OpenFlow as and protocol set module to showcase the functioning of SDN. The module comes up with coding in C++ and optional binding option with python. Basic knowledge of Linux will be a plus in networking domain specially in SDN.

Keep an eye on post update to get deeper aspects of SDN with practical exposure.