Programmable networks could mean less downtime.

HP is following other big systems makers into the world of software defined networking with a line of 16 OpenFlow-enabled switches. That’s a pretty serious commitment to OpenFlow, a protocol that helps take the intelligence associated with routing packets off of the high-priced switching gear and puts it on commodity servers.

HP not only introduced OpenFlow enabled switches, but said that customers with existing HP switches can download software that will add OpenFlow capabilities to their current gear. This looks like a far bigger committment than IBM’s and NEC’s effort to build out a hardware and services package around OpenFlow and software defined networking from earlier this month, and is a continuation of the trend toward OpenFlow making it into production environments this year.

OpenFlow and software defined networking has been a topic for academics, webscale vendors and carriers, as they seek to do to routers and switches what virtualization did for servers — make them more agile and scalable. OpenFlow is just one tool to build SDNs while Juniper, Cisco and other vendors also offer tools for network virtualization. Of course, most vendors say they will support the OpenFlow protocol as well, including Cisco, the vendor that stands to be hurt the most if OpenFlow ushers in an age of folks buying cheap switches and shifting the networking intelligence to commodity servers.

As we add more devices to the network they have to scale out better, and as IT relies more on on-demand compute and storage, the networking has to become as flexible as the virtualized servers that spin up and down. The network becomes a bottleneck if every time you want to add capacity to your cloud or associate new networking policies with a series of virtual machines, someone has to manually unplug boxes or install new load balancing or firewall gear. Virtualization and software defined networks are seen as the solution.

HP said that so far it has more than 10 million OpenFlow-capable switch ports deployed, which is tiny number compared to the overall switch market. However, it’s not alone in pushing OpenFlow, and it has made quite a commitment with a full upgrade of its existing switches and 16 new ones on offer.

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After releasing a revised financial forecast for FY 2011 that predicts an annual .3 billion loss, its third in the last four years, NEC announced it will cut around 10,000 jobs. Bloomberg Businessweek reports President Nobuhiro Endo announced the cuts, revealing most of the cuts will come from the company’s mobile-phone handset business, with 7,000 of them expected to be in Japan. The company reportedly had 115,840 employees as of March so there should be a few folks left around to keep the lights on and maintain ventures like its new JV with NTT Docomo, Panasonic, Samsung and Fujitsu, the NEC Lenovo PC alliance, and its recently announced work on the Hayabusa 2 asteroid explorer. Still, we’ll have to wait and see how the cuts affect upcoming cellphones, like any potential successors to its super-slim MEDIAS N-04C seen above.

Continue reading NEC will cut 10,000 jobs after forecasting .3 billion annual loss, mostly in mobile phone biz

NEC will cut 10,000 jobs after forecasting .3 billion annual loss, mostly in mobile phone biz originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may ask yourself, why bother tapping touchscreens or physical buttons when an accelerometer can be strapped to the wrist, turning any ol’ arm into a wireless touch panel? That’s the claim that NEC is making today. A wrist-worn band of compact acceleration sensors divides the arm into seven sections along the upper, middle, and lower arm that can then be assigned as virtual inputs to an electronic device. No more reaching into a bag to answer the phone, no more plucking at the strings of a guitar to create song — everything is controlled through a natural tap of the arm or clap of the hands. Once in a lifetime tech that feels the same as it ever was.

Continue reading NEC turns your arm into a touch-sensitive remote control

NEC turns your arm into a touch-sensitive remote control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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