NEC Enhances Automation and Scalability of OpenFlow based Software Defined Network Fabric

*** For immediate use August 1, 2012


Tokyo, August 1, 2012 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced enhancements to its software defined networking product family, ProgrammableFlow.  These enhancements allow enterprises and cloud operators to automate provisioning of high performance network services. Included in the announcement is the release of UNIVERGE PF Series ProgrammableFlow Controller 3.0, the industry's only OpenFlow controller that enables end-to-end quality of service (QoS) design and network management capabilities that support multiple software defined networks from a single console or application programming interface (API).

With version 3.0, NEC is redefining the role of the network from focusing primarily on connectivity to an intelligent, unified, and open fabric that enables dynamic service provisioning and scalable cloud solutions within a multilayer high performance fabric.

"These enhancements to NEC's UNIVERGE PF Series meet the growing need for virtual networks using OpenFlow technologies in support of cloud data centers and business networks," said Hiroyuki Watanabe, General Manager, Global Solutions, NEC. "Additionally, they satisfy the demand for lower installation and operational costs while providing greater security and higher quality."

By utilizing new UNIVERGE PF Series with integrated API capabilities, network operators can focus on strategic projects by offloading configuration work.   The API framework allows third party applications, such as network management or orchestration systems to directly interact with the network through a well-defined functional approach. Third party systems can make on-demand calls to the API to create, edit, and delete virtual networks, as well as to add and remove policies.  This new model allows network administrators to focus on new services as opposed to the time consuming tasks like QoS provisioning and provisioning network isolation.

ProgrammableFlow 3.0 expands the scalability of the ProgrammableFlow physical and virtual network fabric, allowing organizations to buy only the network capacity they need now and to scale over time.  With this release, the number of switches that can be controlled is greatly expanded and operators can build networks with more than 4,096 virtual LAN (VLAN) ID configurations.

The enhanced UNIVERGE PF6800 ProgrammableFlow Controller was already adopted by NTT Communications as part of its new "BizHosting Enterprise Cloud" service platform. BizHosting uses OpenFlow technologies to provide borderless cloud services that enable integrated operations of numerous data centers both domestically and internationally. This global scale ICT infrastructure is flexibly controlled and takes only a few minutes to remotely complete connections between data centers that conventionally took several days.

Learn more about ProgrammableFlow:

• NEC will be demonstrating ProgrammableFlow 3.0 at VMWorld 2012, which takes place August 26-30 in San Francisco.
• For more information, visit:
  http://www.nec.com/en/global/prod/pflow/index.html

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About ProgrammableFlow
NEC's ProgrammableFlow network suite was the first commercially available SDN solution to leverage the OpenFlow protocol enabling complete network virtualization, allowing customers to easily deploy, control, monitor, and manage multi-tenant network infrastructure. This architecture delivers better utilization of all IT assets, and helps provide ongoing investment protection as customers add functionality or upgrade their networks. NEC's approach simplifies network administration and provides a programmable interface for unifying the deployment and management of network services with the rest of IT infrastructure.
 
About OpenFlow and the ONF
The OpenFlow protocol is being standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF). Founded in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo!, the ONF is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to rethink networking and quickly and collaboratively bring to market standards and solutions. The ONF will accelerate the delivery and use of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) standards and foster a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers and users. The foundation includes 70 member companies.

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society.  For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.


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NEC Press Contacts (Japan)

Takehiko Kato
NEC Corporation
+81-3-3798-6511
E-Mail:t-kato@cj.jp.nec.com

Joseph Jasper
NEC Corporation
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E-Mail:j-jasper@ax.jp.nec.com