Cleanly separate networking software into four layers (or planes) – management, services, control and forwarding – providing the architectural underpinning to optimize each plane within the network.

Centralize the appropriate aspects of the management, services and control software to simplify network design and lower operating costs.

Use the cloud for elastic scale and flexible deployment, enabling usage-based pricing to reduce time-to-service and correlate cost based on value.

Create a platform for network applications, services and integration into management systems, enabling new business solutions.

Standardize protocols for interoperable, heterogeneous support across vendors, providing choice and lowering cost.

Broadly apply SDN principles to all networking and network services including security from the data center and enterprise campus to the mobile and wireline networks used by service providers.