Several major recent announcements in the SDN space reflect the high level of interest in software-defined networking, and network function virtualization — where software, rather than specialized network hardware, becomes the delivery system for new services and network management.
Alcatel-Lucent launched a new, internal start-up called Nuage Networks to focus entirely on SDN. Nuage’s first product is virtualization for data centers, and it is beginning trials this month in Europe and the U.S. The company plans to target SDN solutions for healthcare, banking, utilities and other enterprise verticals, as well as large Internet-based companies and telecom service providers.
Nuage said that its trial customers include Canadian telcom provider Telus and French telecom company SFR, as well as UK cloud service provider Exponential-e and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center here in the U.S.
The first target, according to Nuage’s CEO and founder Sunil Khandekar, is the data center.
“The data center network is standing in the way of cloud services today,” he said during a webcast introduction of Nuage and its first product, the VSP software suite.
Khandekar said that data center networks have a cumbersome, slow provisioning process for network devices and restricted connectivity that lead to underutilized server assets with spare capacity.
He said that Nuage wants to take lessons learned in the mobile space, such as rapid device provisioning and connectivity, to improve functionality within data centers.
“We’re taking lessons learned from mobile networks and applying them to data center networking,” Khandekar said.
A series of other network companies, including F5 Networks, Citrix, Palo Alto Networks, and HP have already said they are working with Nuage or integrating the company’s products with their own.
Meanwhile, Juniper Networks has launched three new products that play into different aspects of SDN and network function virtualization: a new core switch that the company calls “the most programmable switch in the industry,” a new network orchestration tool for wireless and wired LANs and data centers, and its JunosV wireless LAN controller, which is a virtual WLAN controller.
“Enterprises are really looking at abstracting the way in which its employees, or contractors, partners or guests, access the network,” said Dhritiman Dasgupta, senior director of product marketing for Juniper Networks. “It really doesn’t matter how they’re accessing the network, whether they’re coming in on a wireless device, a smartphone or PDA, or a handheld or through a wired connection.”
In the past, he added, such WLAN controllers were “tied to a physical appliance that would sit in a physical location. That is no longer relevant.”
Dasgupta said that in his opinion, SDN is “still going through the hype cycle” and the dust needs to settle as customers figure out what problems SDN can actually solve for them. But, he added, “this has gained so much momentum because it does have a lot of promise when it comes to solving problems for the network operators, the complexity in managing networks that has crept into enterprise networks and service provider networks over time.”
Enterasys, a Siemens Enterprise Communications company, will be holding a webcast on SDN today, to explore deployment models and how to make SDN a reality.
