Several of our discussions turned to the significant progress that has been made in the area of Software Defined Networks (SDN) over the last couple years. I was in a session which demonstrated an OpenFlow controller that was used to call up a wavelength on-demand, and move a VM to a new server in a different location without disruption to any traffic. The project was completed by students and faculty at Marist College, in cooperation with the optical vendor Adva. The results of the project, which are very impressive, indicate a shift in the technology that moves it out of its “science project stage”. I believe we still have a way to go before it becomes truly useful in multi-vendor and multi-provider environments, but you have to go through this stage to get there. I foresee that some of the barriers to widespread use will not be technical at all, but rather, will revolve around policy and the interaction of departments, divisions, institutions, and enterprises. By definition, SDN is a control plane, and it’s not clear to me where, or with whom, that control will lie in many use cases.
