Like most you have probably heard of them, but here is your chance to understand them
Most of you reading this have heard of OpenFlow and some of the recent announcements regarding it. HP announced a whole new lineup of network solutions that takes advantage of this exciting new software standard that promises to let you control and program your network like you would your computer.
Some call this network virtualization capability software defined networking or SDN. There is much more to SDN though then OpenFlow. Network protocols you already use like SNMP for instance is an example of an SDN protocol. SDN is long on potential and promise right now, but still in the gathering momentum stage. Some say that SDN is still searching for its “killer app”. The fact is though that if you are in the networking industry you probably need to learn more about network virtualization, SDN, OpenFlow and what is on the horizon here.
One character of all of this though is the open nature of SDN. Without open standards, making disparate networking products work together would be a challenge that not even the bravest among us would undertake.
Well, if you are attending the RSA Conference in San Francisco at the end of this month or are lucky enough to live out there today is your lucky day! I was speaking with an old friend of mine Matthew Palmer. Matt and I go back a ways to his days at Juniper Networks. Since then Matt has had several successful ventures and is now a principle at Wiretap Ventures, a consulting company helping organizations get their head around OpenFlow and SDN in general.
Wiretap and several other sponsors are hosting the SDN Central Conference at the St Regis Hotel on February 28th and 29th. There are two tracks at the conference: one on the technical details of SDN and OpenFlow and one more business orientated. From the description of the of the business track:
Learn about:
- Introduction to SDN and OpenFlow
- Key SDN technologies and their maturity
- Customer feedback around SDN
- Examples of production SDN deployments today
- SDN Ecosystem – what are the categories, who are the players, what are incumbents doing and relevant startups
- Critical elements for potential SDN strategies – success factors for business executives
- Next-generation applications using SDN and the business benefits
As part of the seminar, we will be facilitating roundtable discussion with your peers and other like-minded individuals in the security and networking space. Bring your questions and ideas for a lively exchange.
And get yourself on the path to answering key questions such as:
- What are my peers in the industry doing around SDN? And how do I join an SDN community?
- How is SDN and OpenFlow relevant to my business?
- How do I take advantage of the inexorable march towards programmable networks?
- Who should feature in my ecosystem strategy around SDN? Who are the potential winners and losers?
- What are the pitfalls of embracing SDN? What are the risks of not embracing SDN?
I should mention that the conference is not free, but tickets are not too expensive. You can check out the link above to see for yourself. If you are interested though, you should hurry as space is limited. Matt tells me that anyone who enters NWW12 as a promo code when registering will receive a 20% discount. I myself will be stopping by and hope to give you all an update from what I learn there. Matt tells me that anyone who enters NWW12 as a promo code when registering will receive a 20% discount.
