Leading Lights Finalists 2015: Most Innovative SDN Product Strategy (Vendor)
This year's line-up of Leading Lights finalists in the category of Most Innovative SDN Product Strategy (Vendor) is a testimony to the maturity of the technology.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the industry was still figuring out what SDN is, what it's good for, or even whether it's good for anything at all. You frequently heard the joke that SDN stands for "still does nothing."
Nobody's joking about SDN now, and that's reflected in these Leading Lights finalists. They're not science experiments or toys. They're carrier-grade products, in many cases deployed in real-world global service provider networks.
We received so many great entries that it was hard winnowing them down. But we sweated the list down to eight finalists.
Arista
Arista Networks Inc. 's EOS+ is a software platform for programmability, allowing operators to automate their networks for reduced operational costs and improved responsiveness. EOS+ offers pre-built applications from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) and partners that can be customized and supported with the optional assistance of Arista.
Applications include ZTPServer, for end-to-end network provisioning; EOS Telemetry Suite for data collections; and EOS DirectFlow Assist for Security Acceleration, to offload or assist an attached security platform, such as a firewall.
Related:
- Arista Addresses White Box Threat
- Arista Offers Software à la Carte
- Arista Gets With the Programmability Program
Avi Networks
Avi Networks ' Hyperscale Distributed Resources Architecture (HYDRA) is an SDN-based architecture completely separating the control and data planes. Data plane resources can scale elastically across on-premises private clouds such as VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) and OpenStack, as well as public clouds such as Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) Web Services.
HYDRA users are able to scale application delivery services independently, moving them among cloud locations, integrating visibility and analytics, and licensing based on application consumption rather than overprovisioning hardware or virtual ADC appliances for peak load.
HYDRA is deployed in more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies, including a top US telco, financial services company, retailer, global bank and Hitachi American Ltd.
Related:
Brocade Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD)'s SDN controller, the Brocade Vyatta Controller, applies policy consistently across different platforms. Network operators can plan for future features and roadmap timelines, because the Vyatta controller is based on open source code -- specifically, OpenDaylight.
Brocade provides southbound OpenFlow and Netconf interfaces for use in SDN deployments to manage devices from other vendors, providing platform independence. Northbound, Brocade provides applications for public sale, supplies custom applications for private customer use and partners with third parties for further application development.
The Vyatta Controller is a quality-assured version of OpenDaylight, and Brocade feeds its code modifications back into the OpenDaylight open source development process.
By using the Vyatta Controller, network operators can gradually introduce SDN to their networks.
Related:
- Brocade Ships Its Open SDN Controller
- Brocade Wants to Be Red Hat of OpenDaylight
- Brocade Weaves Software-Based Networking Strategy
- Brocade's Kelly Herrell on the New IP
Cisco
Cisco's Evolved Services Platform provides service providers with an orchestration platform comprising two major components: The Orchestration Engine automates creating, monitoring and assurance of physical and virtual infrastructure, resources and functions. And the service broker translates business intent into service initiation and chaining using a customer self-service portal.
ESP saves opex and increases agility by supporting a multivendor approach based on open standards and APIs.
ESP has been integral to several service provider deployments: Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT)'s Cloud VPN service in three European countries, Telecom Italia (TIM) cloud services, and Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS)'s on-demand unified services.
Related:
- Cisco Adds Service Management Tool to ESP
- Cisco Adds Application-Centric Capabilities for Service Providers
- Validating Cisco's Service Provider Virtualization & Cloud Portfolio
- Telstra & Cisco Collaborate On On-Demand Unified Services
- Cisco Evolved Services Platform: Automate a New Class of Carrier Cloud Services
- Telstra Extends Cloud Capabilities With Cisco
Infinera The Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN) Open Transport Switch (OTS), extending network virtualization into the optical layer, has been deployed by Pacnet in its 100Gbit/s trans-Pacific and intra-Asia submarine network.
Next Page: More finalists!
