Software-Defined Networking

Even if you've never heard of Flextronics you have probably used or benefited from one of the products this global digital equipment manufacturer has helped assemble -- a Microsoft Xbox 360, for example, or components that show up in everything from Cisco and Motorola devices to aerospace and automotive equipment.

Software-defined networking (SDN) may be the buzzword of the moment within the enterprise networking industry, but it is a “limiting vision” according to Padmasree Warrior, chief strategy and technology office at Cisco.

A Cisco-funded router startup has unveiled its first product, which the company says implements breakthrough silicon-to-photonics circuitry for scaling service provider networks and enabling them for software-defined networking (SDN).

Georgia Tech this spring will offer a comprehensive free, 6-week online course about software-defined networking, one of the hottest topics in enterprise IT.

This year is shaping up to be critical in the development of software-defined networking technology, and two new events are helping chart the way.

Juniper Networks this week unveiled software-defined networking products for service providers, designed to enable them to more quickly scale capacity and provision services.

F5 Networks plans to extend the reach of software-defined networking to improve application performance by acquiring software startup LineRate Systems.

On the surface, Cisco and Juniper's SDN strategies seem to have sharp contrasts if recent announcements are any indication. For example:

These 12 recommendations provide enterprise IT managers a framework to evaluate SDN products from the multitude of SDN suppliers.

NEC this week unveiled a virtual switch for Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V hypervisor which is designed to bring OpenFlow-based software-defined networking and network virtualization to those Microsoft environments.

Front-and-center in Juniper's SDN strategy is a new software business model that will emphasize variable packaging and licensing of software to implement the company's software-defined networking design. Bob Muglia, executive vice president of Juniper's Software Systems Division, shared some finer points of the company's plan with Network World Managing Editor Jim Duffy.

Will there be a market for SDN network operating systems? The answer will be critical to the evolution of SDN standards and the development of applications that leverage SDN capabilities.