Software-Defined Networking

Traditional networks and data centers are being stretched to their limits. They were never designed for today's astronomical growth in bandwidth-intensive applications—and the ever-increasing demand for speed, scalability, and resilience. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a powerful new network paradigm designed to address these issues. Brocade leads the way in SDN technologies to help unleash the power, intelligence, and analytics of networks with a flexible, end-to-end cloud-based solution.

OpenFlow is an emerging SDN communications protocol that provides access to the forwarding plane of a network switch or router over the network, facilitating more sophisticated traffic management and engineering, especially for virtualized environments. OpenFlow began at Stanford University as an attempt to create an open standard that researchers could use to run experimental protocols on the campus production network. Since then, OpenFlow has been implemented by several major networking vendors and deployed in mission-critical production networks globally. The OpenFlow standard is managed by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), whose mission also includes the promotion of SDN technologies.

OpenFlow presents a paradigm shift from traditional networking. In a traditional router or switch, the data plane (the hardware) and the control plane (the software) reside on the device. OpenFlow moves part of the control plane operations to run on external servers called controllers. In practice, the OpenFlow capability is a feature added to commercial network devices, whose hardware architecture and features remain crucial to network performance. The goal of OpenFlow is to streamline innovation by enabling user organizations and third-party developers to experiment with and develop new applications at a pace that suits their needs. OpenFlow can be used to easily deploy innovative routing and switching protocols in the network for high-value applications such as VM mobility, high-security networks, and next-generation IP-based mobile networks.

Brocade is taking an innovative approach by implementing OpenFlow in Brocade Hybrid Port Mode on its high-performance routing platforms. With Hybrid Port Mode on the Brocade MLXe Series, organizations can simultaneously deploy traditional routing or switching with OpenFlow on the same port. This unique capability provides a pragmatic path to SDN by enabling network operators to integrate OpenFlow into existing networks, giving them the programmatic control offered by SDN for specific flows while the remaining traffic is routed as before. Brocade hardware support for OpenFlow enables organizations to apply these capabilities at line rate in 10 GbE, 40 GbE, and 100 GbE networks.

For more information on the emerging OpenFlow standard, visit www.opennetworking.org.

• At A Glance

  • Brocade OpenStack: Robust, Agile, Scalable Cloud-Based Infrastructure in the Virtualized Data Center (563.5 KB)

  • Brocade SDN Leadership (954.5 KB)

• FAQs

  • Brocade OpenStack FAQs (85.6 KB)

  • Brocade Software-Defined Networking FAQs (60.5 KB)

• Positioning Papers

  • Network Transformation with SDN and Ethernet Fabrics (407.3 KB)

• Solution Briefs

  • Brocade and Rackspace: Enabling the Rapid deployment of Private Cloud Environments (884.2 KB)

  • Enabling Scalable, Extensible Cloud Networks Using OpenStack (1.1 MB)

• White Papers

  • Enabling an Open Cloud Network Through Brocade and OpenStack (686.5 KB)

  • Exploring Software-Defined Networking with Brocade (908.8 KB)

  • The Business Case for Software-Defined Networking (760.9 KB)