Brocade rolled out new support for the burgeoning software-defined networking space, introducing its Vyatta Controller that the company said is designed to help telecom operators move toward greater support of all-IP infrastructure.
Brocade said the controller is a “keystone” product in its SDN portfolio and is designed to help telecom operators benefit from an open networking platform strategy. That strategy includes providing a controller tool that allows operators to manage end-to-end services across underlying physical and virtual network infrastructure, including switches, routers, firewalls, virtual private networks and load balancers. The company added that as carriers begin deploying NFV, the Vyatta Controller can provide a “strategic bridge between existing and next-generation architectures.”
RCR Wireless News spoke with Tom Nadeau, chief architect of open source software at Brocade about the new product offering and to get Brocade’s view on the continued development of the SDN and NFV space. Nadeau noted that the market for SDN and NFV had taken off over the past six months, commenting that just last year he would never had guessed there would have been the level of development and attention from wireless carriers that the market has witnessed.
A report released earlier this year from ACG Research forecast that annual spending on all SDN-related equipment could hit $29.5 billion per year by 2018, compared with less than $4.5 billion expected to be spent this year. For actual equipment set to be used in live network operations that growth is forecast to increase from $858 million this year to $15 billion by 2018.
One source for the strength in the market is the work a number of vendors have done through the OpenDaylight Project, which is an open community focused on software defined networking and virtualization solutions. Nadeau explained that the growing support around the OpenDaylight Project has led to rapid advances in SDN and in turn stronger acceptance from mobile operators.
Brocade said the Vyatta Controller would be available beginning in November.
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