SDN and NFV Simplified: A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization

17. Cisco Insieme

The advent of industry support for communication protocols that decouple the applications and the data-forwarding functions of physical network devices such as OpenFlow must have unnerved the network hardware vendors. This concern was also compounded by the subsequent introduction into the data center of network virtualization platforms such as VMware NSX. Recall, too, that Cisco Systems lost a high-stakes bidding war with VMware for Nicira, the software-defined networking (SDN) company whose technology was the foundation of what would be become NSX. It was little wonder then that there was great interest as to how the giants of networking, particularly Cisco Systems, would react. What would be their response to the first significant ...