Alcatel-Lucent Unveils SDN Plans, Supports OpenStack

Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled an enterprise-scale Software Defined Network  Software Defined Network (SDN) offering that it says can make automatic real-time adjustments to a network.

Targeting mid-sized and large enterprises, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) hopes to provide highly automated and simple to use solutions that are scalable and compatible with existing networks. Built on the Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch platform, the Application Fluent Network detects virtualized applications and applies a profile-driven policy to enable a network to automatically adjust to virtualized traffic, such as virtual desktops, in order to meet service quality demands.

Enhancements to the platform in 2013 will include increased programmability through a set of RESTful interfaces, new application performance analysis, and an enhanced global control view through the addition of Plug-N-Play capabilities that allow each device in the network to be identified and brought into service automatically.

“The focus for early SDN related use cases has been primarily on automation to remove the need for the human middleware required for network reconfiguration related to adds, moves and changes of virtual machine deployments," said Mark Fabbi, Vice President, Distinguished Analyst at Gartner. "However, greater benefits will appear as new SDN applications focused on end-user experience and operational improvements deliver on the promise of the application fluent corporate network.”

Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniVista 2500 Virtual Machine Manager is now classified as VMware Ready, which is an important element in providing increased programmability for delivering on SDN. Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniVista 2500 Virtual Machine Manager provides real-time and historical visibility of the enterprise data center network and the location of virtual components, such as virtual machines, within the network.

Support for OpenStack

Alcatel-Lucent also announced that its CloudBand carrier cloud management solution now supports an expanded array of popular open source cloud computing software as well as networking equipment from leading technology vendors. The company also said that it now supports the OpenStack Foundation, to compliment its utilization of Apache CloudStack in the CloudBand Management System.

“Openness has been a key principle that we have embraced to ensure that our customers’ cloud environments can be adapted and expanded as the customer demand evolves," said Dor Skuler, Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent Cloud Solutions. "We have delivered on this promise of openness with multi-vendor support at every point in the network and the cloud so our customers can enjoy flexibility in their investment decisions, choosing whichever vendor best meets a particular need.”