Brocade delivers open turnkey SDN solution

Lam goes through the features for the Brocade Flow Optimizer.

Brocade has announced the Brocade Flow Optimizer and new software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities in Brocade MLX Series routers to address challenges to network and service reliability.

CK Lam, Director of Data Center Fabric and Virtualization for Asia Pacific, Brocade, said the launch is a proofpoint of where Brocade is heading and how serious the company is about SDN.

“With the introduction of the Brocade Flow Optimizer, Brocade is taking a concrete step to help its customers maximise the value of software-driven networks and increase network performance by mitigating network attacks and enabling policy-based traffic engineering,” said Lam. “Brocade is delivering on the merits of agile, New IP networks with a low-risk, highly innovative SDN solution.”

The Brocade Flow Optimizer is an SDN application that supports an OpenDaylight-based controller. It provides real-time policy-based management for network traffic flows. "What we want is network intelligence. Not just visibility and control, but automation as well," Lam explained.

Some use cases, Lam showed, include:

Network attack mitigation

Network attacks can be prevented with standard attack profiles and the Brocade Flow Optimizer. The company can then choose to drop the network requests, redirect them, reprioritise them, limit the rate of requests and so on.

Application traffic control

Traffic from bandwidth heavy applications such as YouTube, iTunes and Netflix can be throttled in the office.

Flow-based traffic port mirroring  

Data traffic, particularly when there is suspicious activity, can be analysed by mirroring the traffic flow to a separate analytics appliance.

When coupled with Brocade MLXe routers, the Brocade Flow Optimizer enables service providers and enterprises to gain proactive insight into their network traffic and eliminate network congestion.

"Service providers are facing threats to the sustainability of their businesses and must reconsider their business models and their approaches to network design. Network intelligence is crucial for successful IP-based services and architectures,” said Ray Mota, CEO and Principal Analyst at ACG Research. “Brocade, a leading vendor enabling the New IP, is addressing this problem with its comprehensive and open SDN architecture.

"The Brocade Flow Optimizer SDN application is a prime example of a solution that helps IT and telecom managers to more effectively optimise their networks. Ultimately, this enables them to deliver a better overall user experience, implement cost controls, and enhance revenue initiatives.”

Brocade also announced the Brocade NetIron OS 5.9 software, building on the continued advancement of SDN capabilities in the Brocade MLXe routers. Providing new OpenFlow features, this OS release leverages the Brocade VersaScale programmable forwarding architecture. By using this architecture with SDN applications such as the Brocade Flow Optimizer, organisations can improve visibility over network traffic and simplify forwarding control.

Brocade’s open SDN architecture is a modular solution that consists of the Brocade Flow Optimizer application, Brocade SDN Controller, Brocade MLXe routers, and Brocade ICX campus switches. This approach to SDN means organisations can now use standards-based protocols, such as OpenFlow, OpenDaylight-based SDN controllers, and open APIs for integration with third-party orchestration systems. Lam noted that open SDN architecture equates to less risk. While OpenFlow is the most versatile standard at the moment, Open Daylight supports other standards as well so there is investment protection, he said.

With Brocade Hybrid Port technology, traditional forwarding and OpenFlow traffic are simultaneously supported on the same port. This allows organisations to seamlessly introduce SDN into their existing networks while protecting current investments.

In Asia Pacific, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong are more aggressive about SDN adoption, followed by Singapore, Lam noted, but the region is still behind the US. 

"Many of them ask what're going to be their business benefits. They're asking for use cases and deployment customers. The reality is that a lot of them are just doing proofs of concept," he said.

The Brocade Flow Optimizer SDN application is priced on a perpetual software license basis, depending on the network capacity supported. Capacity for up to 20 GB of traffic management costs US$4,995 and capacity for up to 200 GB of traffic management costs US$12,995.

The Brocade NetIron OS 5.9 software will be available in the third quarter of 2015 at no additional cost to Brocade MLX customers with a current service contract, subject to change at Brocade’s sole discretion.

posted from Bloggeroid