Software defined networking was a hot topic at the recent Interop conference in Las Vegas, where enthusiasm for the emerging technology overpowered any lingering doubts.

Brocade service provider chief technology officer (CTO) and chief scientist, David Meyer, has been appointed chair of the OpenDaylight Project Technical Steering Committee (TSC).

US-based software defined networking (SDN) vendor, Cyan, has laid out its A/NZ expansion plans.

The combination of highly virtualised environments inside enterprise networks, along with an explosion of mobile traffic, are exposing the limitations of existing networks, and driving the need for a new era of dynamic and scalable networks of the future, IDC researchers said in a panel discussion at Interop this week.

It starts with a gathering in a warehouse in Brisbane, Calif. Vendor reps, volunteers and networking experts of all stripes meet to create an enormous temporary network using products from 23 different companies, test it within an inch of its life -- and then stuff it on to trucks drive it out to Las Vegas.

Juniper Networks this week will extend its SDN offerings with the release of its controller, roughly six months ahead of schedule.

Arista is raising the ante in high-density programmable core switching and perhaps setting the stage for things to come.

A key requirement for the success of the nascent network functions virtualization (NFV) market is the emergence of an independent software community to drive innovation in telecom software. At the recent Open Network Summit (ONS) event there was significant activity around NFV, including a number of smaller suppliers demonstrating products.

As someone who spent billions with HP over 20 years while in IT leadership roles at Boeing and Verizon Wireless, John Hinshaw knew the big hardware, software and services company from the outside as well as anyone. In the year-and-a-half since becoming executive vice-president of technology and operations at HP, he's been putting that knowledge to use on the inside.

On the surface, Cisco and Juniper's SDN strategies seem to have sharp contrasts if recent announcements are any indication.

From software defined networking challenges to killing Cius and corporate restricting moves, it was a busy year for Cisco.