Lumina Networks enters SDN market

by Andrew Coward | Aug 7, 2017

Company Created to be the Catalyst for Open Software Networks to Eliminate Vendor Lock-in

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Aug. 7, 2017—Lumina Networks, Inc. launched today in the software-defined networking (SDN) market, through its acquisition of assets associated with the SDN Controller product family from Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. Along with a leading SDN Controller solution, powered by OpenDaylight™, Lumina brings a talented team of network software engineers and existing customer engagements with some of the world’s largest service providers. Offering the Lumina SDN Controller, applications and Network Development (NetDev) Services, Lumina is the catalyst that brings open software networking out of the lab and into production networks.

Transitioning to software-based networks can dramatically lower capital and operational costs while transforming network functionality and customer experience. Yet, the complexity of the transition from hardware to software, along with the crucial requirement of independence from vendors, has made it difficult for service providers to move beyond lab trials and into production environments. This is where open source-based networking technology can help.

Using OpenDaylight as its preferred open source controller, Lumina enables service providers to directly control their SDN implementations while providing the flexibility to develop their own solutions through their choice of vendors thus eliminating lock-in. To ensure 100 percent compatibility with OpenDaylight’s code base, Lumina contributes enhancements made to its SDN Controller back to the open source community.

Lumina also offers NetDev Services to help organizations transform their network engineering and operations team. The NetDev Services team at Lumina works with customers to jointly develop production systems using agile methods to prototype and speed through proof-of-concept and pilot phases. Lumina NetDev Services builds solutions using Lumina, open source tools or competitive products. The company’s methodologies enable customer teams to become self-sufficient in developing and managing their new open source platforms.

“Our job is to be the catalyst to help service providers bring open software networking out of the lab and into their live network,” said Andrew Coward, chief executive officer, Lumina Networks. “We started Lumina Networks to ensure providers can use open source in critical use cases. But just delivering technology is not enough. Our customers are doing the implementation with us, so they can learn and acquire the skills, tools and practices needed to develop and manage the platforms we jointly deploy.”

Lumina’s product portfolio includes:

• Lumina SDN Controller: A fully tested, documented and quality-assured edition of OpenDaylight, that provides a common open platform to control the network and manage its nodes.

• Lumina Flow Manager: A controller-based application that enables more simplified and sophisticated traffic engineering of the network with advanced algorithms such as path-computation for efficient traffic flows.

• Lumina Zero Touch Installer: A controller-based application that provides initialization of devices, such as virtual CPE, with the correct software image and configuration automatically.

“By embracing openness and layering innovation, Lumina can claim a distinct differentiation in the SDN market,” said Ray Mota, chief executive officer and principal analyst, ACG Research. “With a leading SDN Controller, an experienced team of software engineers and a roster of large service providers as customers, Lumina will help network operators expand their use of SDN so they can save time and money.”