Software-Defined Networking

Cloud scaling will be all the switching rage at this week’s Interop. Three major vendors last week took their platforms deeper into and then beyond the data center, outdueling each other on server access density and software programmability, two key attributes needed for the virtualized goldmine called the cloud. And in so doing, they have raised the bar and perhaps set the stage for one of the more anticipated announcements in SDN switching from Cisco spin-in Insieme.

HP this week refreshed its switch line and fortified its SDN portfolio with three new systems and a router, along with management and provisioning software extensions.

The third annual Open Networking Summit, an SDN conference organized by the Open Networking Foundation, convened this week just after ONF members Cisco and IBM unveiled a separate effort to define an open source SDN framework. Unlike the user-driven ONF, OpenDaylight is a vendor-driven project to cultivate a system of SDN applications, but it also raised suspicion of the group's real intent: Is it designed to stall SDN's momentum and the threat, real or perceived, it could pose to incumbent hardware vendors? ONF Executive Director Dan Pitt discussed some of these topics with Network World Managing Editor Jim Duffy at the Santa Clara, Calif., conference.

Dell says it's hoping to move closer to the forefront of data center technology with the release today of a suite of new products designed for software-defined networking.

SDNs aren't just for data center networks, despite the best-use-case-scenario arguments for network virtualization and flow management pervading the industry.

If you're skeptical about the intentions of the OpenDaylight SDN consortium, you're not alone.

A speaker at a recent Network World event asked the crowd of 450 IT practitioners if they were familiar with software-defined networking (SDN) and only about 10% raised their hands.

Software-defined networking, a set of technologies to help networks better adapt to user needs with less manual effort, may at last be getting the common foundation it has needed for interoperability and efficient development.

Cisco this week reduced its workforce by about 500 people as the company realigns to face the advent of software-defined networking, cloud computing and its impact on routing and switching.

In an effort to accelerate the adoption of OpenFlow for software-defined networking, Big Switch Networks this week unveiled an open source-based "thin" virtual switch for servers and commodity switches.

Juniper Networks is readying a new programmable core switch to address software-defined networking in campuses and data centers.