VMware doesn't offer OpenFlow on virtual switches, as Roy Chua of SDNCentral points out in his analysis. (It does have a workaround, as detailed on the IP Space blog.) So, this is actually a nice announcement for Microsoft, giving Hyper-V something to brag about versus VMware's ESXi. On NEC's side, the company's ProgrammableFlow line of switches now has increased relevance in the cloud. NEC's moves don't make or break the switching market, since the company's sales remain mostly in Japan -- but ProgrammableFlow is meant to change all that, by using OpenFlow and SDN as levers. NEC did announce one customer for the PF1000, and it's not based in Japan: Edgenet Inc., which develops sales engines for online retailers. Lately, a lot of talk around SDN has emphasized the need to support protocols other than OpenFlow, but NEC insists that OpenFlow's importance hasn't diminished. "The customers we talk to see the investment protection of OpenFlow being a lot more solid than any particuar promise by any particular vendor," says Don Clark, NEC's U.S. director of business development. For more
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