Historically, traditional data center networking does not efficiently respond to the changing needs of organizations. The network environments were often too rigid and complicated, presenting restrictions for new technologies and innovations and impeding the realization of the full network visualization benefits.

Traditional challenges found in the networking space include:

• Slow pace to provision new network elements, such as routers and switches
• Proprietary networking technology characteristics that bind users to specific vendors
• Lack of automation in network configuration
• Need for manual intervention for configuration changes
• How error-prone network changes can be

Further, typical network constructs such as firewalls, VLANs, or load balancers cannot be deployed and configured in the fast timeframe that DevOps-type infrastructures require. These constraints mean that workload mobility is limited and firewall rules, VLAN, and IP sprawl exist.