Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, HP and Spirent team up at Interop 2013 to present what they say is the first, live multi-vendor interoperability test using Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) technology. 

The test leverages the InteropNet backbone network to connect equipment at each participant's booths-- namely an Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6900 LAN switch, Avaya Virtual Services Platform 9000, HP 12500 series switches and Spirent TestCentre. 

SPB is an open and extensible fabric networking technology. Standardised as either 802.1aq (IEEE) or RFC 6329 (IETF), the technology simplifies network creation and management by demanding service provisioning only in the edge of the network. Using the Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) protocol, SPB dynamically builds and maintains network topology between nodes and establishes a multi-path  traffic distribution fabric.  Read more...

Gefen’s Daisy Chain HD System creates a large infrastructure for wiring displays using CAT-5 cable. The system includes sender, splitter and receiver units—all interconnected in a daisy chain concept. All three units work together to extend 1080p full HD with RS-232 and IR control signals using the same CAT-5 cable.

“This is an evolutionary new daisy chain concept for many commercial applications, particularly digital signage-type video walls,” says Hagai Gefen, president, Gefen. “This solution uses Video over IP technology to route hi-def video to 100 displays and is a great fit for any commercial applications that use multiple displays such as airport terminals.”

Similar to a tree scenario, the system uses splitters to create new “branches.” Users can create up to 10 branches each supporting ten displays.

Individual displays can be mounted next to each other or up to 100 meters apart. Source video is sent to the sender then over a single CAT-5 cable to the splitter. The splitter outputs two signals: one that connects to a receiver and display; and another that connects to another splitter. Each splitter also provides one HDMI output for a local display connection. Read more...

A number of vendors join the Linux Foundation in an industry effort to create a standard open-source software-defined networking (SDN) platform-- forming the OpenDaylight Project. 

Project members include Cisco, IBM, Citrix, Juniper Networks, VMware, Microsoft, Red Hat, Intel, Brocade, Big Switch Networks and Arista Networks, among others. 

According to the Linux Foundation “OpenDaylight unites technology industry leaders to establish the largest SDN open source project to date, with the goal of a common and open SDN platform for developers to utilise, contribute to and build commercial products and technologies upon.” Read more...

Big Switch Networks bids for further OpenFlow software-defined networking (SDN) adoption with the Switch Light-- an open source-based "thin" virtual switch for servers and commodity switches. 

Switch Light is a software switch customers can deploy on server hypervisors and silicon-based physical switching platforms (aka white box switches). Designed as an alternative to proprietary, vendor-unique architectures, the Switch Light uses the OpenFlow SDN API and protocol to lower both capital (by providing choice in networking hardware) and operational (through an automated and centralised common provisioning and management model tying together physical and virtual networks) costs.  Read more...