Interop puts software-defined networking in limelight

The potential game-changing research that surrounds software-defined networking will be center stage at Interop at once week with high-profile product introductions, research demos and information sessions all set to roll.

While mobility, cloud computing, security and business collaboration tools are expected to be introduced at the show in Las Vegas, which will see an estimated 13,000 attendees and 350 exhibitors, SDN will be showcased as multiple participants. Data center switch vendor Arista Networks, for instance, will demonstrate how to build a software-defined cloud network using its switches and controllers from partners VMware, Big Switch and Nebula.

High-performance SDN using OpenFlow

IBM will demo a high-performance SDN using OpenFlow, which is a protocol and API that enables SDN. IBM will as well be part of the Interop OpenFlow Lab which will include Broadcom, Brocade, Extreme, HP, NEC and others showing off the SDN innovation.

Hailed by proponents as the biggest transformation of networking in decades, SDN promises to make the physical infrastructure irrelevant to the actual behavior of the traffic by enabling software programmability of flows and additional features.

The evolving SDN market is Cisco

Another big player to watch in the evolving SDN market is Cisco, whose hardware and software is omnipresent in enterprise, data center and service provider networks. Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior kicks off Tuesday morning's Expo with a keynote address, and during her speech is slated to discuss three macro industry trends -- mobility, cloud and video -- Cisco has been working in recent months on its programmability strategy, as it calls its response to SDN.

At the company's recent business partner conference in April, Cisco CEO John Chambers confirmed that the company is funding and plans to absorb Insieme, a startup developing a software-defined networking system. 

The conference

At the conference, Warrior told Network World, "Anyway you look at it we understand the implication of what is good about [SDN] and what are the things we need to improve," Warrior told Network World at the conference.

From that conference Network World's Jim Duffy wrote: "The single most visible aspect of Cisco's programmability strategy -- the company seems careful not to label it as an SDN initiative -- is Insieme, the Cisco-funded startup building what is believed to be a programmable switch line supporting OpenStack and distributed data storage. Cisco at first invested $100 million in Insieme, with the right to purchase the remaining interests of the company for up to $750 million."

On Wednesday, Steve Herrod, CTO and SVP for R&D at VMware, will keynote the morning session, along with a panel discussion from leading cloud thinkers including John Engates, CTO of Rackspace, and Ellen Rubin, VP of cloud products for Terremark, a Verizon company. Mobile computing is set to be a hot topic throughout the show as 14 sessions while the three days of conferences are dedicated to the topic, which is the most of the nine conference tracks.

The early birds getting to the show

For the early birds getting to the show, Sunday and Monday, May 6 and 7, will feature two-day sessions on enterprise cloud computing and principles of effective IT management. Security is the second hottest topic at the show, during topics just as IPv6, social media in the enterprise and desktop virtualization are as well on the docket.

Meanwhile, organizers have spent the past few weeks putting the finishing touches on the event, including setting up the network that will power Internet connectivity at the show.

Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social media. He can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW. Jim Duffy and Jon Gold contributed to this report.