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Video Series Examines SDN: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Leading industry analyst and Packet Design CTO discuss all facets of SDN in short video casts

What’s the reality on the ground with software defined networking (SDN)? Are humans in the network becoming obsolete? What network management best practices can we bring to the automation realm? Packet Design has released a wide-ranging conversation on these topics and more between Jim Frey, vice president of research for analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates, and Cengiz Alaettinoglu, CTO of Packet Design. Titled “SDN: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly,” the series consists of seven short videocasts where both experts provide an overview of SDN, related technologies, standards initiatives, and management considerations.


 SDN Video Series Segments:

  1. Defining SDN: What is it exactly and how does it differ from “software derived networking” and “network function virtualization?”

  2. SDN Standards Bodies & Consortia: Who is actively working on SDN and which segment is lagging?

  3. What’s Working and What’s Not: What are the risks with SDN? Is Google’s success with their custom-built SDN a model for the industry?

  4. The Need for a Network Access Broker (NAB): How do we determine if an application deployed via SDN will not adversely impact other applications?

  5. Use Cases for the Network Access Broker: Continue reading

Data Edge Launches New Telecoms Performance Management Tool

Data Edge has launched a new telecoms performance management tool that it forecasts will bring in new revenues of €1.2m before the end of 2014. This includes a first contract just signed with a major telecommunications provider in Ireland worth €350,000. According to Data Edge, the management of network operations for telecommunications companies has become increasingly complicated. Constant network configuration changes, and the rollout and expansion of new services, have made complete network visibility extremely difficult. Data Edge therefore saw a gap in the market and teamed up with Packet Design to provide a solution for telecoms providers to improve network reporting, route visibility, analysis and diagnosis.

Data Edge has entered into an exclusive partnership with Packet Design to resell its product range in the Irish market. “To gain real insight into networks, engineers traditionally have had to query individual routers and manually correlate the resulting data, which is a tedious, error prone and time consuming process,” said Brian McBride, managing director, Data Edge. “SLA reporting, capacity planning, route visibility, fault finding, repairing and auditing are constant uphill struggles. Add cloud computing and virtualisation into the mix and these tasks become practically impossible. Operators told us they want a Continue reading

Complexity Concerns Temper SDN’s Promise According to Packet Design Survey

Perceived benefits propelling adoption but management issues worry service providers

MPLS/SDN 2013 International Conference, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nov. 20, 2013 – Network service providers are buying into software defined networking (SDN) benefits but are troubled by the management challenges, according to a survey conducted by Packet Design yesterday. More than 100 organizations – nearly half comprised of service providers – weighed in on SDN adoption, business drivers, and concerns during the 16th annual MPLS/SDN International Conference in Washington, D.C.

Nearly All Examining or Deploying SDN

Almost 90 percent of organizations surveyed are exploring SDN in some way, with:

  • 62 percent either researching or prototyping SDN;
  • 19 percent with some production deployment;and another
  • 8 percent planning to implement production SDN in either 2014 or 2015.

Only 11 percent said they have no current SDN plans.

Main Drivers Include New Services, Business Agility

Nearly half of survey respondents (43 percent) said the main business driver behind SDN in their organizations is supporting new services such as cloud, big data applications, and mobility. More than 26 percent consider increasing business agility (including responding faster to new network demands) the number one driver. Improving productivity (better network availability and performance for customers/users) Continue reading

Packet Design CTO to Discuss SDN Management Challenges

Session to cover need for route analytics to facilitate SDN across wide area networks

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Nov. 11, 2013 – Packet Design CTO Cengiz Alaettinoglu will conduct a technical session during the 16th annual MPLS/SDN 2013 International Conference about how route analytics can address software defined networking (SDN) management challenges. Specifically, he will introduce the need for a network access broker to verify if the wide area network (WAN) can handle the traffic demands of SDN applications without impacting other applications adversely.

Session Title: “Challenges in Operating a Software Defined Network: How Route Analytics Alleviates the Risks”

Session Description: Northbound SDN APIs allow creation of network-aware applications. Cloud and data center applications have successfully taken advantage of these APIs to provide seamless virtual machine mobility and elasticity. However, these applications are unaware of whether or not the underlying WAN can provide acceptable performance.

Technology vendors have toyed with bandwidth on demand, demand placement and rapid provisioning as SDN applications for carriers. The ability to provide performance guarantees for these applications as well as cloud applications requires deep understanding of underlying real-time network topology and traffic demands. Route analytics is the state-of-the-art-technology needed to provide this information.

In this presentation, Cengiz will Continue reading

Packet Design Launches Multicast Explorer for Network Engineers to Conquer the Multicast Routing Frontier

New product expands visibility into complex multicast routing configurations, speeds troubleshooting, and makes planning more accurate 

From market trading data distribution to Internet Protocol television (IPTV) to online education, use of multicast routing is growing but the ability to manage it across networks has been limited. Building on its pioneering work in route analytics, Packet Design has launched Multicast Explorer, an optional module of the company’s flagship Route Explorer system, to provide unprecedented visibility into complex multicast routing configurations. With improved troubleshooting and proactive management – including interactive modeling – network professionals can enhance multicast service quality as well as prevent interruptions and outages. This is particularly important where failures carry severe penalties, such as in the financial services industry. 

Going beyond traditional SNMP and CLI pollers, Multicast Explorer collects and analyzes all IGP routing announcements in real time using a passive technique as well as data collection methods optimized for all major vendor routers. This means the information is always current and accurate for monitoring and troubleshooting multicast issues quickly, preventing the tedious process of querying individual routers and manually correlating the resulting data. If any planned or unplanned configuration changes occur, network managers know immediately Continue reading

London Seminar – Multicast & Product Updates

Date: September 17th, 2013
Time: 8:30am
Venue: The Four Seasons London at Canary Wharf

Please join us for an informal breakfast seminar to discuss the IP routing management needs of organizations in the financial services, broadcast video, and other industries. Attendees will also receive a Packet Design product update from Matt Sherrod, Vice President of Products, and see a demonstration of the newly-released Multicast Explorer which offers unprecedented real-time and historical visibility into multicast routing operations as well as powerful modeling capabilities. In addition to breakfast, attendees will have a chance to win a Beats by Dre™ Bluetooth Speaker. 

Who should attend: Network routing engineers, network architects, planners and administrators; network operations engineers and managers, directors and vice presidents of network infrastructure and IP communications.

Seminar Registration - London 2013

New York Seminar – Multicast & Product Updates

Date: September 12th, 2013
Time: 8:30am
Venue: The Westin at Times Square

Please join us for an informal breakfast seminar to discuss the IP routing management needs of organizations in the financial services, broadcast video, and other industries. Attendees will also receive a Packet Design product update from Matt Sherrod, Vice President of Products, and see a demonstration of the newly-released Multicast Explorer which offers unprecedented real-time and historical visibility into multicast routing operations as well as powerful modeling capabilities. In addition to breakfast, attendees will have a chance to win a Beats by Dre™ Bluetooth Speaker. 

Who should attend: Network routing engineers, network architects, planners and administrators; network operations engineers and managers, directors and vice presidents of network infrastructure and IP communications.

Seminar Registration - New York 2013

Packet Design to Challenge Engineers at Cisco Live

Company Will Launch its "Do You Know Everything?" Campaign on the World of Solutions Exhibit Floor

Packet Design, the leading provider of IP network route analytics software, announced a new marketing campaign today at the 2013 Cisco Live Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Packet Design will introduce some levity to the serious world of IP networking by challenging visitors to its booth on their Knetwork Knowledge℠. Packet Design routing experts will test attendees on their expertise in IGP and BGP routing protocols, MPLS WANs, Layer 2 and 3 VPNs and RSVP-TE tunnels. Attendees will leave not only with a higher level of Knetwork Knowledge but also a tee shirt that gives them bragging rights. In addition, they will understand how Packet Design’s Explorer™ family of products:

  • Gives real-time visibility into Layer 3 topology and routing for proactive service delivery management
  • Allows replay of the topology and all routing events at any point in time for forensic analysis of network issues
  • Enables interactive modeling to understand the impact on routing and traffic flows of planned network changes, new workloads and component failures.

“IP networking is complex and sometimes the people responsible for ensuring the availability and performance of critical networks Continue reading

Packet Design Appoints Andy McFarland as Vice President of Customer Care

Expands Management Team with New Executive Role Focused on Customer Success

SANTA CLARA, CA — May 21, 2013 — Packet Design, the leading provider of IP network route analytics software, announced today that it has added another industry veteran to its management ranks. Andy McFarland has been appointed to build and lead the new Customer Care function and will be responsible for customer success and satisfaction.

McFarland joins Packet Design from CA Technologies where he held various customer success leadership roles, including Vice President of Customer Support. Before that, he was Vice President of Customer Care at NetQoS and helped the company achieve industry-leading Net Promoter Scores. Earlier in his career, Andy help Internet Engineering and Operations management positions at Sprint and Broadwing Communications (now Level 3), and was Director of Carrier Relations and Access Strategy at MegaPath. Andy began his career as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy.

“Andy McFarland understands the importance of customer enablement after the sale to ensure full value is received from the products and services acquired," said Scott Sherwood, CEO of Packet Design. "Furthermore, he has years of experience in our market implementing measurable customer care programs that promote customer success Continue reading

Packet Design Appoints Matt Sherrod as Vice President of Product Management

Company Snags Network Management Expert and Industry Veteran

SANTA CLARA, CA — April 16, 2013 — Packet Design, the leading provider of IP network route analytics software, announced today that it has hired Matt Sherrod as Vice President of Product Management. Sherrod will lead product strategy, product design and integrated partner solutions to expand the Packet Design product portfolio and deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

Sherrod has more than 25 years of networking experience. He joins Packet Design from CA Technologies where, as the Vice President of Product Management, he defined product direction and strategy for the company’s infrastructure management solutions. Over the last 10 years he has held a number of field and management positions at CA Technologies and NetQoS. Prior to joining NetQoS, Matt worked as Director of Communications for a Fortune 100 global enterprise, applying leading edge technologies to improve application delivery.

“Matt Sherrod has a deep understanding of customer needs coupled with years of experience in defining and delivering innovative network performance management products to address them,” said Scott Sherwood, CEO of Packet Design. “He is uniquely qualified to lead Packet Design’s product strategy and ensure we provide world-class management solutions for complex service provider and Continue reading

Packet Design Acquired by Private Equity Firm; Appoints New CEO

Leader in IP Network Route Analytics Receives Cash Infusion to Accelerate Growth

SANTA CLARA, CA — March 19, 2013 — Packet Design, the leading provider of IP network route analytics software announced today that it has been acquired by Lone Rock Technology Group, an Austin-based private equity firm specializing in enterprise software. S3 Ventures, an early stage venture firm with a focus on information technology and also based in Austin, joins Lone Rock as a major investor in the company. With the deal, Packet Design announced it has appointed Scott Sherwood, a network and systems management industry veteran, as its new CEO. 

Since it was founded in 2003, Packet Design has pioneered the complex science of route analytics. Its patented technology provides unique visibility into routing and traffic behavior across the entire cloud. Network managers at hundreds of the largest service providers, mobile operators, cable and broadband providers, enterprises and government agencies spanning five continents rely on the intelligence Packet Design provides to optimize the performance and control of their networks. 

“We believe Packet Design’s technology, world-class talent, and marquee customers position it extremely well in a market growing over 12% CAGR, and we are excited by the Continue reading

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