--- title: 'eBook: CTO’s guide to SDN, NFV & VNF' description: 'Networking and communications standards and methodologies are undergoing the greatest transition since the migration from analogue to digital. The shift is from function-specific, proprietary devices to software-enabled commodity hardware. Why is the transition happening and why is it important? Read this eBook to: familiarise yourself […]' url: https://canonical.com/blog/ebook-ctos-guide-to-sdn-nfv-vnf?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Alexia Emmanoulopoulou](https://canonical.com/blog/author/alexia-emman "More about Alexia Emmanoulopoulou") 16 May 2016 # eBook: CTO’s guide to SDN, NFV & VNF [CTO](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/cto) [E-book](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/e-book) [networking](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/networking) [NFV](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/nfv) [sdn](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/sdn) [Telco](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/telco) [Telecommunications](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/telecommunications) [vnf](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/vnf) --- Share the article Networking and communications standards and methodologies are undergoing the greatest transition since the migration from analogue to digital. The shift is from function-specific, proprietary devices to software-enabled commodity hardware. Why is the transition happening and why is it important? Read this eBook to: * familiarise yourself with the three most popular terminologies today – SDN, NFV, and VNF * learn why the transition is happening * understand why it’s important for anyone responsible for a network to understand and embrace this emerging opportunity * learn about the potential benefits, and some deployment and management solutions for software-enabled networking [Download eBook](http://ubunt.eu/zxYPGT) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### The next era of telco clouds: get open infrastructure choice with Sylva and Canonical Kubernetes](https://canonical.com/blog/the-next-era-of-telco-clouds-get-open-infrastructure-choice-with-sylva-and-canonical-kubernetes) Achieving vendor neutrality in telco clouds requires an infrastructure layer that respects open standards, without wrapping them in rigid platform layers. By combining upstream... [estelacarmona](https://canonical.com/blog/author/estelacarmona) 11 June 2026 [### What is InfiniBand?](https://canonical.com/blog/what-is-infiniband) When distributed workloads stall because nodes cannot exchange small messages quickly and consistently, the network is the limiting factor. How do you solve that problem?... [Benjamin Ryzman](https://canonical.com/blog/author/benjaminryzman) 2 June 2026 [### What is RDMA?](https://canonical.com/blog/what-is-rdma) Modern data centres are hitting a wall that faster CPUs alone cannot fix. As workloads scale out and latency budgets shrink, the impact of moving data between servers is... [Benjamin Ryzman](https://canonical.com/blog/author/benjaminryzman) 11 February 2026 [### Building new revenue streams: 3 strategic cloud opportunities for telcos in 2026](https://canonical.com/blog/new-telco-cloud-opportunity) PWC claimed the ‘fundamental challenge’ behind slowing growth is that telecom’s ‘core products and services’ are ‘becoming commodities.’ The way forward lies in modernizing and... [Isobel Kate Maxwell](https://canonical.com/blog/author/iso-maxwell) 10 February 2026