Ciena Endorses Open Data Center Interoperable Network (ODIN)

Ciena announced its support for the new Open Data Center Interoperable Network (ODIN)framework from IBM, which is positioned as an industry best-practice for transforming data-centers with a flatter, more converged network architecture.

In a blog posting, Steve Alexander, Chief Technology Officer of Ciena, writes: "We can see a time in the near future where the combination of increasing network intelligence combined with the use of open standards-based network programming interfaces (NPIs) enables physical network resources to be virtualized, just as we today routinely work with virtualized compute and storage resources."

The ODIN framework outlined by IBM addresses issues such as virtualization and Virtual Machine (VM) migration across flat Layer 2 networks, lossless Ethernet, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and OpenFlow, and extended distance WAN connectivity (including low latency). Several papers are posted on the IBM site listed here.

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/networking/solutions/odin.html
http://www.ciena.com