Open Networking Summit 2014 Gets Underway in Silicon Valley

Open Networking Summit 2014 got underway in Santa Clara, California.  This year's ONS features high-profile keynotes from AT&T, Google, Microsoft and Khosla Ventures.

The conference offers sessions on topics such as "Bare Metal Switching & Programming", "SDN for Cellular Networks" and "SDN Deployment Experiences."  It also features over 60 SDN exhibits; a Demo Track with SDN Idol Finalists, and an SDN Solutions Showcase.

Two keynotes are scheduled for Tuesday:

08:30A - 09:30A: "SDN AS A DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION," Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures

11:45A - 12:30P: "HOW AT&T PLANS TO TRANSFORM ITS INFRASTRUCTURE WITH SDN", John Donovan, Senior Executive Vice President—AT&T Technology and Network Operations, AT&T Inc.

http://www.opennetsummit.org/

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Broadcom Announces OpenFlow Data Plane Abstraction Spec

Broadcom announced its OpenFlow Data Plane Abstraction (OF-DPA) v1.0 specification, software and API -- an openly published implementation of physical switch hardware pipeline abstraction for the Open Networking Foundation's (ONF) OpenFlow 1.3.1 Switch.

The OF-DPA v1.0 specification, software and API can be used to implement network virtualization, multi-tenant networks and traffic engineering with higher scale and performance.  The defines a pipeline that contains multiple tables, each table containing multiple flow entries. The OpenFlow pipeline processing defines how packets interact with these tables. The OF-DPA v1.0 physical switch hardware pipeline abstraction is an implementation of the OpenFlow 1.3.1 Switch optimized for Broadcom StrataXGS Ethernet Switch devices.

Broadcom said its OF-DPA v1.0 software and API enables OpenFlow 1.3.1 agents and controllers to access multiple tables implemented in Broadcom switch devices. The intent is to facilitate general availability of production-quality OpenFlow 1.3.1 switches from OEM and ODM vendors as well as provide a reference platform for use by end users and in academic and industrial research networks.

OF-DPA Version 1.0 Key Features

• Provides an ONF OpenFlow 1.3.1 compliant switch pipeline and APIs for modifying and querying flow table (e.g., Layer 2 table, Layer 3 table, access control list table) and group table entries, as well as for configuring ports, queues, and VXLAN overlay logical ports. 
• Includes OF-DPA v1.0 specification, API library, application development kit, and programmer's guide, all released under the Apache 2.0 license.
• Supports SDN use cases including virtual tenant networks (VTNs), network virtualization using overlays, and traffic engineering.
• Future OF-DPA versions are slated to support additional Broadcom switch features required in service provider and carrier class applications.  

"The openly published OF-DPA specification, software and API exposes OpenFlow compliant programming constructs over Broadcom's StrataXGS® Ethernet Switch Series," said Ram Velaga, Broadcom Senior Vice President & General Manager, Network Switch. "By mapping the OpenFlow 1.3.1 pipeline to high bandwidth and high density switch silicon like the StrataXGS Trident Series, we are enabling SDN applications to achieve high performance and scale."

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Switching/Software-Defined-Networking-Solutions/OF-DPA-Software

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NEC Debuts OpenFlow-based Data center Interconnect Solution

NEC announced the commercial release of Version 5.1 of its ProgrammableFlow Networking Suite, which introduces a new OpenFlow-based, software-defined data center interconnect solution – the Unified Network Coordinator (UNC).

NEC says its new UNC significantly improves the scalability of the network controller by 10 times over previous ProgrammableFlow controllers. This enables construction and orchestration of virtual networks across multiple controllers within a data center as well as across interconnects between data centers. The UNC's capability of linking virtual networks across and between data centers gives customers the ability to link to specific policies within the UNC. In turn, users gain the ability to have an end-to-end policy across multiple controllers and multiple domains.

"We've found that our customers are looking for a policy-based approach to managing their data centers, which is now possible with NEC's UNC," said Don Clark, director of business development, NEC Corporation of America. "The ProgrammableFlow version 5.1 controller allows for better resource utilization and it simplifies data center management, both of which can increase service agility and reduce operating costs. Customers can deploy the UNC to move workloads across multiple data centers and control how traffic flows across WAN links. This allows the pooling of resources, which equates to better utilization of not only networks, but also storage and servers."

As an illustration of its 10x* scalability, each ProgrammableFlow UNC controls up to:

• 10 controllers or 10 sites or 10 zones in a large data center
• 2,000 switches (compared to 200 switches per controller in previous version)
• 30,000 Virtual Tenant Networks (VTN)
• 100,000 VLANs
• 10 million flows

http://www.nec.com/en/press/201403/global_20140303_03.html

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Infonetics: SDN Creating Hesitancy in Carrier Routing/Switching Market

SDN is leading the carrier router/switch market into a period of hesitation, according to new report from Infonetics.

“Major change is in the air as carriers of all sizes proceed cautiously with router and switch spending, in part because they are trialing SDN (software-defined networking) or just beginning to figure out how to proceed with SDN,” says Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research. “The fourth quarter is usually an indicator for the current year and sometimes a bellwether for the future. In the most recent quarter (4Q13), North America had a double-digit sequential decline in carrier router/switch revenue rather than the usual budget flush, with weakness coming mostly from Verizon and AT&T, among the global leaders of SDN activities.”

Some highlights of the report:

• In 2013, worldwide service provider router and switch revenue—including IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches (CES)—was $14.5 billion, up just 2% from 2012
• 4Q13 carrier router/switch revenue is down 4% from the same period a year ago
• Prompted by the move to 100GE, the core router refresh is still mildly in motion: Core routers are up 3.3% for the full year 2013, but flat quarter-over-quarter (4Q13 from 3Q13)
• There is intensifying focus on multiple content delivery networks (CDNs) and smart traffic management across routes, aimed at making routers and optical gear cooperate more closely
• The top 4 manufacturers – Cisco, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, and Juniper stayed in dominant positions in 2013, together taking 83% of global carrier router and switch revenue
• Over the past 2 years, Huawei has increased its market share the most of any vendor
• With SDN hesitation slowing router and CES spending, Infonetics now expects worldwide service provider router and switch revenue to grow at a low single-digit CAGR from 2013 to 2018, when it will reach $17.2 billion

http://www.infonetics.com

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ONF Releases Educational Network Tapping Application

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) released an open-source network tapping application built on OpenFlow and designed to serve as an educational resource for programmers.

The application was developed with Wiretap Labs, a Silicon Valley-based consultancy specializing in custom development for cloud, security and SDN solutions. of March 2014. It is based on OpenFlow 1.0 and was written to run on an OpenDaylight controller. SampleTap has been tested and will be demonstrated with OpenFlow Conformance-Certified NEC switches. It was based on OpenFlow 1.0 because the recently announced OpenDaylight Hydrogen release, which supports OpenFlow 1.3, was not available at the time of the app’s writing. It was also designed for easy portability to other network operating systems and support later versions of OpenFlow. The ONF noted that a number of its member companies, including Big Switch Networks, Cisco, Gigamon, HP, IBM, Ixia (Net Optics), NEC, and NetScout, offer or plan to offer commercial-grade network tapping products.

“In evaluating potential educational applications, we selected network tapping as it is broadly understood and easily deployable by network operators,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “We see our app as an OpenFlow teaching tool that allows network operators to get experience with OpenFlow without changing how they actually do the switching and routing, since tapping doesn’t use OpenFlow for forwarding.”

"We hear tremendous interest from users who want to test OpenFlow in their networks and this app is the perfect way for them to get started," said Neela Jacques, executive director, OpenDaylight. "We are excited that ONF used OpenDaylight's controller for this and look forward to hearing how these open source technologies are being implemented in software-defined networks."

ONF will be demonstrating the SampleTap application at this week's Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara.

http://www.opennetworking.org

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Brocade Adds Support for OpenFlow 1.3

Brocade is now support OpenFlow 1.3 across its IP portfolio of routing and switching products.

OpenFlow 1.3 is a key component of the company's comprehensive SDN strategy and the expansion of OpenFlow support from the Brocade MLXe and CER/CES product families to the Brocade ICX and VDX switch families enables customers to achieve new agility and programmability across the network -- from the data center to the campus to the wide area network (WAN).  The company said OpenFlow 1.3 delivers a richer feature set required for commercial and enterprise networks to address complex network behavior and optimize performance for dynamic SDN applications. These features include Quality of Service (QoS), Q-in-Q, Group Tables, Active-Standby Controller, IPv6, etc.

Brocade also note that it has already shipped shipped more than one million OpenFlow-enabled ports on the company's flagship router, the Brocade MLXe Core Router and its compact carrier Ethernet routers and switches, the Brocade CER and CES products.

http://www.opennetsummit.org
http://www.brodcom.com

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HP and NEC Announce SDN Collaboration

HP and NEC agreed to collaborate on joint solutions that leverage software-defined networking (SDN) technology for enterprise customers.  The companies have been partners since 1995 in delivering enterprise IT systems.  With this news, HP and NEC are extending their alliance to encompass network infrastructure solutions.

HP and NEC also are working with industry-standards organizations to show continued commitment to a standards-based SDN solution. HP and NEC will build ecosystems of application vendors providing business and network applications based on products that utilize open standards to implement SDN, which in turn allows for dynamic control of the network.

http://www.nec.com/en/press/201403/global_20140304_01.html
http://www.hp.com

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Rackspace Launches Digital Marketing for Major Brands

Rackspace Hosting launched is launching a new practice focusing on digital marketing infrastructure and application hosting needs.

The new Rackspace Digital service delivers expertise to help companies more effectively engage with customers via a website, portal/extranet, mobile app or online store.

Rackspace Digital’s dedicated team specializes in support for web content management systems (WCMS), e-commerce solutions and mobile services, while offering advice based on years of working with demanding workloads for the world’s top digital agencies.

“As a company of specialists, Rackspace provides hybrid cloud solutions to achieve the best fit for each customer’s specific workloads. The depth of our experience with ecommerce, digital marketing, and content management — coupled with our Fanatical Support —makes us the partner of choice for global brands looking to strengthen their digital efforts,” said Taylor Rhodes, president of Rackspace. “Most other cloud providers are generalists, offering solutions for a broad audience, while significantly limiting the value they deliver to customers with unique business needs.”

http://www.rackspace.com/digital/

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Toshiba and NTT Com Announce Global Cloud Alliance

Toshiba and NTT Communications announced a multifaceted alliance under which Toshiba's data-center and cloud-computing services will be provided to global customers by NTT Com's Enterprise Cloud, a self-manageable, full-layer virtual private cloud reaching 196 countries and a footprint of 150 secure data centers worldwide. Services will be provided in North America and Asia from April, and then expanded to Europe thereafter.

Toshiba, which has provided data-center and cloud-computing services primarily to domestic companies in Japan, will now use Enterprise Cloud to provide global-scale data-center and cloud-computing services that enable enterprise customers to expand and manage their operations within a common cloud network environment accessible from anywhere in the world.

Also under the alliance, Toshiba has begun supplying NTT Com with high-quality, high-performance storage systems that are now being used in selected parts of the Enterprise Cloud environment. NTT Com intends to further strengthen its cloud services with Toshiba's advanced technologies for storage and related storage services.

http://www.ntt.com/aboutus_e/news/data/20140227.html

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