Alcatel-Lucent Expands Enterprise SDN Offerings

Alcatel-Lucent has broadened its software-defined networking (SDN) technologies within its OmniSwitch Ethernet LAN portfolio of products. According to the company, the new capabilities will help its enterprise customers meet increasing application demands being put on them by employees and customers.

Some of the new features include:

• Support for OpenFlow and OpenStack integration, which are both available through a free software upgrade. Stephane Robineau, general manager and vice president of the Enterprise Networks business at Alcatel-Lucent, noted that the new OpenFlow and OpenStack capabilities ensure OmniSwitch are open and will work with Alcatel-Lucent’s partner ecosystem and SDN solutions.
• Optimization for wireless traffic flows. OpenFlow-enabled OmniSwitches that interoperate with Aruba Networks wireless controllers can dynamically route traffic for optimal performance that improves the user experience with bandwidth-intensive, real-time applications on a wireless network.
• Enhanced security for application traffic flows. When an unwanted application or traffic pattern is detected, OmniSwitches use automated security policies to stop malicious network traffic.
• Software defined data center capabilities that provide a consistent set of policies across networks to improve the delivery of applications.

The addition of these new capabilities are in line with the Alcatel-Lucent Application Fluent Network vision, which is meant to help enterprises build SDN-based solutions without worrying about high costs.

The new features include automation and provisioning, both of which are becoming increasingly necessary. And according to Alcatel-Lucent, the new features support practical use cases that solve real world enterprise issues.

“These capabilities ensure that OmniSwitch solutions are open and will work seamlessly with the company’s partner ecosystem and industry SDN leaders’ solutions,” Robineau said in a prepared statement.