Networking World: BREAKING NEWS: Cisco takes fight to SDNs with bold Insieme launch

First look: The Cisco/Insieme family | Software-defined networking explained

Network World Special Alert

Cisco takes fight to SDNs with bold Insieme launch
Game on: Cisco has acquired spin-in Insieme Networks for $863 million and rolled out a family of its switches that are the network giant's strategic answer to the growing software defined network movement. Read More

In this Issue

First look: The Cisco/Insieme family
Cisco today unveiled what is perhaps the most anticipated product line created to address to the growing software defined network (SDN) movement. The Nexus 9000 Application Centric Infrastructure switching portfolio, developed by the $863 million Cisco spin-in company. Read More

Software-defined networking explained
The very heart of networking is about change. Your current network infrastructure is a platform on which the entire IT portfolio depends for communication and services. Although the network is made of many physical elements, such as routers, switches, and firewalls, it is for all practical purposes a single system. A change in any part of the network can cause a failure of the whole. This wholesale interdependence has led to a fear of change among network operators that prevents new services, new features, and even good operational practices. Read More

Special Report: Planning for SDN
The Software Defined Networking movement is in its awkward adolescence, changing shape as it grows. In this Network World Spotlight special digital issue we catch you up on the status of the movement and begin to lay out how you get there from here, examining basic planning, what to look for in an SDN controller, and discussing what the Open Networking Foundation hopes to achieve with its new Migration Group. Contents include: * Where we stand. A look at where the SDN movement stands today, understanding the different approaches emerging, and analyzing likely steps forward. * Planning for SDN. No reasonable person would claim to know how SDN and network virtualization will evolve over the next several years, but there is no doubt these emerging technologies will have a significant impact. You need to plan now for how you will evaluate and possibly implement these new approaches to networking. * What to look for in an SDN controller. If you are going to centralize control of your network in an SDN controller, you better know how to differentiate one from another. A look at core considerations to examine. * Q&A: Chair of the Open Network Foundation's Migration Group An inside look at the goals, expectations and plans of the ONF's recently created Migration Group and how it hopes to help companies make the transition to SDN. Down the special report here. Read More

Six questions to ask your SDN supplier
Let's face it - real-world deployments of SDN are currently few and far between. While deployments have started to reach beyond the leading-edge Googles and Microsofts of the world, most enterprises and service providers are still in research mode with respect to SDN and the related Open Networking and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) movements. The good news is that suppliers – even the leading-edge... Read More

Application services meet up with SDN in the cloud
Enterprises and service providers are looking beyond collections of boxes and toward virtual data centers that are better at growing and changing, and now application services such as security and acceleration are about to fit into that picture as well. Read More

SDN: The security pros and cons of using it in your organization
SDN benefits include automating and easing network administration duties and improving application performance. But it also introduces a number of potential threat vectors into your environment. What should you know before you invest in SDN? Read More

SDN pioneers share their secrets
With the ability to create virtual networks quickly and efficiently – rather than programming network-connected hardware on an individual basis – software defined networks (SDN) appear to be the time-and-resource saving solution that overwhelmed IT managers have been looking for. Read More

IT shops share OpenFlow, SDN best practices
Two users are putting OpenFlow and software-defined networks through their paces in projects of varied urgency. Read More

Arista fires broadside at Cisco/Insieme with new switches
Kicking off a week that promises to be rich in data center and cloud networking news, Arista Networks today unveiled a new line of switches designed to bring programmable provisioning to smaller, more cost conscious deployments. Read More

Cisco Nexus 9000 aimed at 40G?
Unconfirmed details are starting to emerge on the Cisco Nexus 9000, the new data center switch being developed by spin-in candidate Insieme Networks. Cisco is expected to introduce the Insieme-built Nexus 9000 line Nov. 6. Read More

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