Data and storage networking product company Brocade Communications Systems touts its new Vyatta Controller as a low-risk path to software defined networking.
The SDN controller, which is built from OpenDaylight Project, is now the keystone of Brocade’s (NASDAQ: BRCD) portfolio. The OpenDaylight Project is a community-led open source initiative for SDN and Network Functions Virtualization adoption.
By introducing open source into the SDN equation, customers are free to innovate on their own, or they can partner with the vibrant OpenDaylight community to develop new capabilities that modern networks requir, according to Brocade.
While areas of storage and compute power have adapted to cloud computing and emerging mobile and social technologies, the network has been left behind according to Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst for ZK Research.
“Networking must address the compounding forces of cloud computing, mobile and social, all of which have common characteristics of being on-demand and highly personalized,” he said. “However, the network remains as static and unresponsive as it was from its original design point in the old world of IP.”
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Kerravala said the Vyatta controller is among the crop of solutions that can help networks “unlock innovation and adapt to the demand-driven world.”
The use cases for SDN are directly proportional to the applications developed and deployed, according to Brocade. Some of the early use cases customers can take advantage of are:
- Bandwidth calendaring
- Context-aware policy enforcement
- Prioritization of unified communication traffic
- Security for issues such as DDoS attacks
- Advanced network programmability and control for heterogeneous NFV environments
“The Brocade Vyatta Controller is the first commercially supported open source solution to remove that vendor lock-in from the network and allow the user to deliver the innovation that the network needs.,” said Kelly Herrell, vice-president of software networking at Brocade