Speaking at aforum held today for corporate management, institutional investors, private equity investors and venture capitalists, Steve Garrison, vice president of marketing at Pica8, told attendees that software-defined networking (SDN) is continuing to catch the attention of data centers because the technology has gained traction as a complementary approach that continues to solve issues not always best served by traditional switching and routing.

Speaking on a panel at the Pacific Crest Emerging Technology Summit in San Francisco, Garrison said he believes the larger, traditional networking vendors have also overestimated the probability that data centers will shy away from SDN because of its perceived disruptive technology. Far from it, according to Garrison, who told the panel that SDN in fact has shed light on the efficiencies of the data center network and has made administrators and managers examine how they can be more dynamic and policy-based.

“SDN is not about a wholesale reinvention of the network that is solving a problem that is two years away,” Garrison said. “Contrary to what the networking giants are saying, SDN is already solving inefficiencies in existing networks by making them more automated, dynamic, and easier to adjust to changing conditions. Simplified, policy-based networking is not vaporware, it’s being utilized now.”