NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a leading provider and integrator of advanced
communication and IT solutions, today unveiled ProgrammableFlow, NEC's
OpenFlow-based network fabric, which works with Windows-based virtualized
environments. ProgrammableFlow's vPFS Virtual Switch for Windows Server "8" will
give Windows Server customers a new option for building large, flat networks
that streamline the management of datacenter networks through greater levels of
automation while driving down operational costs and time to deliver business
services.
"NEC vPFS for Windows Server 8 provides virtualized Windows Server
environments an end-to-end networking solution," said Don Clark, Director of
Business Development, IT Platform Technologies, NEC. "ProgrammableFlow leverages
the new capabilities in Window Server 8 to bring the benefits of OpenFlow,
including network policy mobility, monitoring and programmability, to Windows
Server Hyper-V environments."
ProgrammableFlow's vPFS Virtual Switch for Windows Server 8 leverages the
Hyper-V Extensible Switch application programming interface (API) to create a
dynamic data center fabric allowing for ease of network management and to
increase performance across the network. With ProgrammableFlow, the entire
network can be configured and monitored with one central control and network
traffic can be visualized from end to end. Network performance is also optimized
by network level load balancing across multiple paths for more available
bandwidth and faster network response.
"In Windows Server 8 we are making the Hyper-V Virtual Switch extensible for
partners to add unique value for customers," said Mike Schutz, Senior Director,
Windows Server and Virtualization, of Microsoft. "NEC is demonstrating how
OpenFlow can maximize the advanced network capability and leverage new features
of Windows Server 8."
NEC demonstrated ProgrammableFlow operating in a Windows Server 8 environment
at the recent Microsoft BUILD developer conference in Anaheim, CA.
ProgrammableFlow for Windows environments will be commercially available upon
the release of Windows 8.
NEC's ProgrammableFlow leverages the OpenFlow protocol to create
Software-Defined Network (SDN) virtualization, allowing NEC customers to deploy,
control, monitor, and manage multi-tenant network infrastructure. This
architecture helps provide ongoing investment protection as customers add
functionality or upgrade their networks. NEC's approach simplifies network
administration and provides a programmable interface for unifying the deployment
and management of network services with the rest of IT infrastructure.
"NEC is committed to making ProgrammableFlow the best-in-class networking
solution for data center networks," said Clark. "ProgrammableFlow's vPFS enables
IT professionals to build highly scalable, easy to deploy and manage networks
for Windows environments."