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While the concept of a software-defined network (SDN) seems rather intangible, its abilities provide concrete advantages to network infrastructure. SDN is an evolving space, and NEC (News - Alert) Corporation is responding to the growing demands with its updated ProgrammableFlow Networking Suite.

The ProgrammableFlow Networking Suite v6.3 includes a new SDN ProgrammableFlow Controller and networking coordinator. This boasts improvements in network security, operational cost savings, and optimizes the ability to manage and control networks.

The company showcased its latest solutions at the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, California.

The most commonly cited advantages of software-defined networking are traffic programmability, greater agility, the ability to create policy driven network supervision, and implementing network automation. The promise of SDN is the ability to allow networks to keep pace with the speed of change.

Perhaps the most attractive ability is in the design itself; it is intended to work with low-cost Open Compute Project-approved network equipment.

“With the release of ProgrammableFlow 6.3, NEC continues to respond to the evolving SDN requirements of its customers,” said Brad Casemore, director of research for datacenter networking at IDC (News - Alert) in a press statement. “In addition to ProgrammableFlow’s new enhancements to scalability, security, automated provisioning, manageability, and availability, NEC’s acceptance of OCP (News - Alert) Switch Specifications allows ProgrammableFlow customers to benefit from OCP’s ongoing initiatives in open networking.”

SDN came to be with the arrival of Openflow protocol, a communications practice that can move network control out of proprietary network switches and into control software that’s open source and locally managed. The ProgrammableFlow Network Suite was the first commercially available SDN solution to utilize the OpenFlow protocol.

The programmable nature of SDN architecture makes it easier to design, deploy, manage and scale the networks. The ability to automate provisioning introduces agility to networks and reduces human resource requirements, resulting in lower operating expenditures.

“ProgrammableFlow Network Suite has always had innovative features that provide inherent, (built-in) investment protection for customers and this release continues that commitment,” said Don Clark, Director of Business Development for NEC. “This new functionality provides greater performance, availability and resiliency that delivers the performance our customers expect and even easier administration for SDN.”