Sorting out SDN, NFV, Network Virtualization and the New Networking

A lot has changed in a year. Soon after I wrote Networking Revolution: Software Defined Networking and Network Virtualization, Nicira was purchased by VMware for more than $1B. For many outside of the networking world, this gave instant credibility to the SDN (Software Defined Networking) movement.

This increased scrutiny has not necessarily clarified what truly defines this new wave of networking. Networking has always been a complicated environment filled with numerous protocols and arcane terminology. SDN, NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), and network virtualization are three different solutions (with some overlapping terminology) that look to bring a new generation of networking to market. All of these solutions aim to bring networking into a more automated and scalable era geared for virtualized and cloud environments.