Brocade Delivers Software-Defined Networking at 100G
Executes with highly scalable OpenFlow support in the Brocade MLX Series Routers
Brocade outlined its strategy and product roadmap for Software-Defined Networking (SDN), a technology model gaining broad support across network operators globally. In support of its SDN strategy, Brocade also announced that with the NetIron 5.4 software release it has successfully integrated OpenFlow, enabled in hardware, in the Brocade MLX router family and related platforms. OpenFlow is a protocol standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) enabling programmatic flow control in a network and is a key technology of SDN.
The strategy Brocade introduced today will guide the company’s R&D investments, marketing and partnering for SDN to deliver highly flexible, end-to-end networking solutions. The focus of these solutions will be network virtualization; automation and simplification in large scale data centers and traffic engineering and flow management on MPLS based networks. This strategy includes these fundamentals:
• SDNs will be based on resilient and automated network fabrics. Brocade VCS Ethernet Fabric technology delivers the foundation needed for a SDN by delivering a highly automated, dynamic and resilient foundation for the network fabric layer. VCS fabrics dramatically improve controller scalability and efficiency by enabling network operators to program the fabric as one logical switch. The inherent Multipath topology enables all links to be active, doubling network utilization and improving reliability with the greatest resiliency from a self-forming and self-healing architecture with fast network re-convergence and real-time scaling.
• Network virtualization via overlay technologies brings the same level of flexibility to networks as server virtualization did to compute, enabling on-demand networking and simplified VM mobility. Brocade’s technology-agnostic approach ensures support for all overlay technologies such as VxLAN, NVGRE, STT, MPLS and others as standards evolve. Brocade will apply its years of experience with MPLS-based overlay networks for solutions enabling on-demand multi-tenant networks delivering highly flexible, efficient and scalable asset utilization.
• Programmatic control of forwarding via open API’s promises to unlock the network enabling rapid delivery of highly customized new services. Brocade delivers industry standard OpenFlow for L2/3 forwarding and Brocade OpenScript for L4/7 forwarding. Brocade’s production-ready APIs deliver OpenFlow in hybrid mode at wire-speed to 100G and OpenScript with predictive performance for new application services.
• Brocade provides a single common management interface with rich cloud management capabilities through standards-based plugins and RESTful APIs. The plugins to Cloud management frameworks including OpenStack, Cloudstack and vCloud™ Director provide comprehensive orchestration capabilities for cloud service delivery and automated operations.
In support of this strategy, Brocade is productizing SDN across its portfolio. The key product lines include Brocade VDX switches, Brocade ADX Series Application Delivery switches, Brocade MLX Series routers, Brocade CER Series routers and Brocade CES Series switches.
The OpenFlow support delivered with the NetIron 5.4 software release enables programmatic control for network operators including advanced traffic engineering across metro and wide-area networks and enhanced flow management and security enforcement inside data centers. This software, which will be generally available in 3Q 2012, supports Brocade MLX Series, CER Series and CES Series routers and switches. Brocade’s hardware support for OpenFlow enables customers to apply these capabilities at line-rate in 10 GbE and 100 GbE networks and is first to deliver an OpenFlow solution deployable in hybrid mode. With hybrid mode, customers may use traditional L2/3 forwarding methods and OpenFlow forwarding simultaneously. This unique capability enables network operators to integrate OpenFlow into an existing network gaining the programmatic control offered by SDN for specific flows while the remaining traffic is forwarded via traditional routing.
Brocade is building an ecosystem of partners for SDN through strategic investments, solution designs and interoperability testing. Brocade recently unveiled an OpenFlow lab in Japan designed to house Brocade and partner technologies to aid in the building of tested and validated solutions and is a member of the Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE). Brocade has also participated in a number of industry multi-vendor demonstrations including the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara in April 2012 and at Interop in May 2012.
The Brocade strategy provides a clear path to SDN leveraging existing network investments while the Brocade portfolio enables network operators to start now with no risk and deploy a SDN-ready network that can be programmed to provide services in a highly predictable, non-disruptive manner.
