Midokura and Cumulus Networks have partnered to develop a solution that provides customers with the ability to easily manage virtualized and non-virtualized workloads. Although the two companies plan to jointly release a preview of the technology in May, don’t expect the final product to hit general availability until the third quarter of 2014.

Each company enters the strategic partnership with its own unique technologies. Midokura is focused on network virtualization and brings to the fore MidoNet, a software-based, highly distributed network virtualization system for service providers and enterprises to build, run and manage virtual networks with improved control and flexibility.

Meanwhile, Cumulus is mostly known for its Linux-focused networking products. Cumulus Linux was designed for the software-defined data center (SDDC), expending a multiplatform operating system for networking hardware to make building, managing and automating massive-capacity data center networks simpler.

“The partnership between Midokura and Cumulus Networks represents a significant step forward in the modern networking movement,” said Dan Mihai Dumitriu, Midokura CEO and co-founder, in a prepared statement. “By enabling virtual networks to span across both virtual and physical workloads, we will give customers the power of choice and the ability to experience networking without constraints.”

A few of the specific features the joint solution will provide include:

“Virtual networks are a central part of the data center and more organizations are seeking better ways to scale virtual environments,” said Reza Malekzadeh, vice president of Business at Cumulus Networks, in a prepared statement. “We are pleased to partner with Midokura to allow joint users to do this easily and in the most cost-effective manner possible by removing the barriers of rigid, proprietary hardware devices with demanding workload mobility.”