Open Network Exchange: SDN, OpenFlow and Network Virtualization
 
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
8:00 am - 9:00 amRegistration and Networking Breakfast
9:00 am - 9:15 amWelcome and Opening Remarks
Andrea D'Amato, Publisher, Network World
9:15 am - 10:00 amWhat is SDN? And Why Should I Care?
Jim Metzler, Network World Contributing Editor; Vice President, Ashton Metzler & Associates
 
Widely reported on and discussed, Software-defined networking (SDN) seems to be "all the buzz" these days.  And for good reason.  Depending on how it unfolds, SDN promises to fundamentally change how networking is done.  What are the varying definitions of SDN?  What factors are driving and inhibiting its adoption?  And what do you need to know about how it could change networking for your organization?  Join us for this session as we outline what IT organizations need to do to adopt this new approach for designing and managing their enterprise networks.
 
10:00 am - 10:30 amTransforming the Network to Seize Business Advantage
Don Clark, Director of Business Development and Strategy, NEC
Ryan Swenson, Mercury Z
 
Much has been written and said in the last year about Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and OpenFlow.  Yet for NEC Corporation -- a $37B global technology leader with a 100-year history of innovation -- this marks Year 5 of NEC's innovation with the OpenFlow protocol and the development of an open, programmable network fabric.  Join us for this session to get a picture of the network before and after SDN, where we'll illustrate specific use cases and results from early adopters, including NEC’s own implementation of SDN spanning multiple data centers.  Learn about some of the dramatic benefits that have been reported by production installations, with new tools for greater control, significant reductions in operating expense, and better utilization of all IT assets.
 
10:30 am - 11:00 amNetworking Break
11:00 am - 11:30 amSDN Adoption: If Not Now, When?
Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst, 451 Research
 
Despite all of the hype and furor around SDN, like any networking initiative, it has to be planned and implemented by any organization that wants to make the jump to the bright new future it promises. This session will dive into recent end-user study data to look at when different enterprises expect to roll out SDN and what their expectations are on how and where they’ll bring it into their networks.  It will provide perspective on the decision-making process and will look at how moves to cloud and mobile device growth are forcing the hand of many networking practitioners. How do network engineers expect to integrate and manage greater network flexibility?  Where does SDN fit? Does this move make sense?  Drives to greater data center efficiency and agility are making many changes in networking and we’ll sort out what that path is expected to be for SDN.
 
11:30 am - 12:00 pmPaving the Way for Openness and Innovation with SDN
Sarwar Raza, Director, Cloud Networking and SDN, Hewlett-Packard
 
Software-defined networking (SDN) represents an inflection point in networking.  Specifically, it holds the promise of eliminating legacy human middleware required by the command-line interface -- and paves the way for openness and innovation. With SDN, IT can orchestrate network services and automate control of the network according to high-level policies, rather than low-level network device configurations. By eliminating complex manual device-by-device configuration, IT resources can then be optimized to lower costs and increase competitiveness.  While the need for automated and dynamic control over network resources is not new,  the emergence of technologies like OpenFlow, the ability to implement complete SDN solutions at all three critical layers has never been simpler.  Join us to see how.
 
 
 
12:00 pm - 1:00 pmLunch with Hosted Table Discussions
Join one of these moderated discussion tables to share strategies and connect with your peers to hear how they're resolving the same issues with which you grapple every day.
 
Open SDN and Network Virtualization Now
Big Switch Networks will address generally available products being deployed today in production networks that  deliver agility, programmability and reduced CAPEX and OPEX.  Bring your questions- we have answers.
Sponsored by Big Switch Networks
 
Wide Area Networking as a Service (NaaS):  Defining the Requirements
One of the exciting opportunities envisioned for SDN is Networking as a Service (NaaS), where a service provider offers their customer WAN connectivity as a virtual resource with self-service and usage-based billing. But what types of features and functions are required to ensure that applications are provided the appropriate network and service performance, without intervention from the carrier?  Join us as we discuss the answers, and how to define the requirements for NaaS.
Sponsored by Cyan, Inc.

Your Journey to Open and Complete SDN
Organizations demand agility in today's cloud era, and they need a single point of control and automation for their network — all of which will enable them to deploy any application or service within minutes for their users. Join us for lunch as we explain an open and complete SDN solution that will deliver agility across the infrastructure, control software and application layers. .
Sponsored by HP

Improving Services Agility with SDN
Join this table discussion and earn about the promise of SDN to deliver significant new services and business agility, and hear about real-world examples of where this is coming to fruition.
Sponsored by NEC

How to Build a Cloud Network Before Dessert
Pertino combines the power and pervasiveness of the cloud with SDN-powered network virtualization and people-centric management to created an entirely new way to WAN. Because the Pertino cloud network engine uses social-inspired provisioning and requires no configuration or hardware, it's crazy simple to build a cloud network anywhere. To prove this point, join us as we build a Pertino network at lunch before you and your fellow participants have time to eat dessert.
Sponsored by Pertino
 
Learn about SDN and Network Virtualization with all the bells and whistles
Come and learn about how to use open Network virtualization and SDN without a rip-and-replace of your infrastructure. Learn how to make better use of your existing infrastructure--e.g. virtual machines and bare-metal servers with any OS, hypervisor, and any workload anywhere, with any storage (iSCSI, NFS, JBOD, FC). Learn how to deploy virtual networks and virtual network services such as vRouters, vDHCP/vDNS, vLoadBalancer, vFirewall, vIDS, vDDOS, vPXE, vTaps, vStorage etc. from a single easy management interface. Learn how hardware-accelerated open Network Virtualization saves you from trading-off flexibility vs. scale vs. performance--get them all today.
Sponsored by Pluribus Networks
 
1:05 pm - 1:35 pmSoftware-Defined Networking for the Open Datacenter Interoperable Network (ODIN)
Dr. Casimer DeCusatis, Engineer, IBM
 
Software-defined networking (SDN) represents the first step on a path to network virtualization, and offers many tangible benefits for enterprise data centers, cloud service providers, and other applications.  This presentation will describe IBM's approach to realizing the potential benefits of SDN, as part of a larger framework for creating an Open Datacenter Interoperable Network (ODIN).  Join us as we review the ODIN architecture components, and the role of SDN enabling technologies, including virtual switches, factory integrated data center pods, and network overlays such as Distributed Overlay Virtual Ethernet (DOVE).  We'll also present use cases and drivers for cloud adoption within data centers.

1:40 pm - 2:10 pmOpen SDN and Network Virtualization Available Today
Jason Matlof, VP of Marketing, Big Switch Networks
 
Open SDN is a vendor neutral, standards-based alternative to proprietary, inflexible, and outdated networking architectures. Join Big Switch Networks to learn about some initial applications of our Open Software-Defined Networking architecture:
Network Virtualization
- Dramatic increase in network agility to support cloud data center needs
- Network automation and programmability
- Up to 50% more VMs per rack reducing CAPEX and OPEX  
- Support for OpenStack, CloudStack and other orchestration platforms
Network Monitoring
- Continuous and ubiquitous network monitoring
- Affordable enterprise-wide visibility
Sponsored by Big Switch Networks
 
The New Way to WAN
Craig Elliott, Co-Founder & CEO, Pertino
 
By combining the power and pervasiveness of the cloud with its SDN-powered network virtualization platform, Pertino has created an entirely new way to WAN. Now anyone can create and manage a secure virtual cloud network that connects people everywhere to the IT resources they need to be productive. In this session, Pertino will define the market and IT trends that are driving networking to finally join the cloud era. Additionally, the company will share how the its SDN-powered Network-as-a-Service platform is making it possible to bring the disruptive benefits and economics of cloud networking to the masses.
Sponsored by Pertino
 
2:15 pm - 2:45 pmLeveraging SDN for Greater Synergy Between Data Centers and the Carrier Network
Rafael Francis, Senior Director, Cyan, Inc.
 
Carrier Networks and Data Centers are often run autonomously, without much coordination between the two.  This is despite the fact that applications running in Data Centers impose certain bandwidth, performance, and topology requirements on the wide area networks providing connectivity for Enterprises, or between Data Centers.  This session will explore the techniques for, and benefits of, applying SDN in the Data Center as well as the Carrier Network, and how this tighter integration in the WAN can enable more dynamic services with deterministic levels of performance.
Sponsored by Cyan, Inc.
Hardware-accelerated open Network Virtualization and SDN without trade-offs
Peter Galvin, Chief Solutions Architect, Pluribus Networks
 
Come hear about how Pluribus Networks can accelerate your next SDN implementation.
Join us for a real-life demonstration of instant deployment of virtual networks (vNet) with:
- no rip and replace
- for virtual machines
- for bare-metal servers
- with built-in virtual network services such as vSwitch, IP address pool management, vDHCP, vTaps and real-time network analytics, vStorage, etc.
See how Pluribus' NetVisor OS (nvOS) deploys virtual networks that overcome the many limitations of conventional VLANs and network overlays in a server hypervisor. And how to deploy any application anywhere with no performance, flexibility, or scale limits.
Sponsored by Pluribus Networks
 
2:50 pm - 3:40 pmSoftware Defined Networking Workshop: Building the Business Case
Jim Metzler, Network World Contributing Editor; Vice President, Ashton Metzler & Associates
 
What are the most practical ways to apply the promising benefits of SDN?  What are other organizations doing that could leverage efficiencies from this new approach to enterprise networking?  Join us for this moderated, interactive workshop exercise where we'll explore and discover the ways to apply SDN for enterprise value — and explore ways to build the business case for implementation.
 
3:40 pmClosing Remarks and Conference Concludes
Andrea D'Amato, Publisher, Network World