SDN-based innovation in New Zealand

The innovation ecosystem is often seen as a `pipeline', or in other words, a linear commercialization model that goes from idea to the marketplace with stages in research, proof-of-concept development, prototype, product beta-testing and market launch. This often works for `technology push' projects that commonly begin not with a discovery, but with the identification of a market need that triggers industry-led innovation. REANNZ, the Crown-owned research and education network supporting New Zealand's universities and research institutes, has been partnering with researchers and industry to identify market opportunities and develop SDN-based technologies to address them. In this talk, I will highlight the experiences and lessons learned on the following projects: SDN-Secured ScienceDMZ that uses ACLs on an OpenFlow edge switch to whitelist authorized traffic, and configures this through a web frontend. Recently deployed at a NZ university. Distributed Routers that split a single control plane over multiple data planes in different locations - a mesh of devices behaving as a single router - in this on either side of the Pacific Ocean. SDN Internet Exchange Point deployed by a commercial carrier using OpenFlow-enabled devices. Intent is to have several across the country acting as a distributed exchange.