Software-Defined Networking

With the ability to create virtual networks quickly and efficiently – rather than programming network-connected hardware on an individual basis – software defined networks (SDN) appear to be the time-and-resource saving solution that overwhelmed IT managers have been looking for.

Vendors such as Juniper Networks that are open sourcing their SDN controllers are pursuing a wrongheaded strategy that misses the point of the technology, HP officials said this week.

Enterprise infrastructure company Infoblox announced this week that it plans to release a free and open-source software tool called Tapestry aimed at generating a hard measurement of any network's complexity.

Nuage Networks, the SDN company of Alcatel-Lucent, has rolled out a gateway for linking bare metal servers to its virtual network environment.

SDN is taking a toll on Brocade.

As a top executive at Intel and EMC, Pat Gelsinger helped build the data centers of today. Now, as CEO of VMware, he's promising to deliver the data centers of tomorrow. In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Gelsinger spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant and Network World Senior Writer Brandon Butler about what he's accomplished one year into his tenure, and why the company is uniquely positioned to deliver on the vision of software-defined data centers. Gelsinger detailed the company's plans for its upcoming infrastructure-as-a-service offerings and how it will out-duel early leader Amazon in that market. He also discussed VMware's plans to simplify mobility and explained how, rather than threatening the company, OpenStack is widening VMware's market. (Oh, one other thing about OpenStack: He doesn't see it gaining traction in the enterprise.) Gelsinger also shared thoughts on VMware's competitors and discussed how he'll work with former VMware CEO Paul Maritz's new Pivotal spin off.

Ciena this week said it is partnering with a handful of research networks to test a multilayer, software-defined WAN.

Whether it’s mobile, cloud, virtualization or SDN, these start-ups are taking up the security challenges.

Software-defined networks aren't for everybody. Through programmability and automation, they promise to make IT life easier. But depending on your IT shop, the benefit may not be worth the effort... or investment.

Q&A; with early SDN adopter Steve Wallace.

The challenge for IT professionals is to select the right SDN offering for the right technology use case at the right time. These 12 recommendations provide enterprise IT managers a framework to evaluate SDN products from the multitude of SDN suppliers.