It's been a busy week in the realm of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV)...

1. Is IBM's SDN Worth $1B?

Re/code reported this week that IBM is soliciting bids for its Software Defined Network for Virtual Environments (SDN VE), with a $1 billion price in mind. As SearchSDN notes, it might just be a ping test to see whether the platform is worth continued investment; we at SDxCentral are under the impression that traction has been slow to develop.

Lenovo bought IBM's server business this week, a deal that included IBM's networking equipment. It's conceivable that IBM would subsequently lose interest in providing an SDN solution, although analysts quoted by SDN didn't think it likely.

We've encountered speculation that IBM was developing an alternative based OpenDaylight, but an IBM spokesman wouldn't comment on that, citing a policy to keep mum on speculation.

2. VMware Adds NSX Customers

During its fourth-quarter earnings call, VMware listed a few notable new customers for the NSX platform: McKesson, Starbucks, Medtronic, BestBuy.com and China Telecom. The company also said three of the top five investment banks worldwide are using NSX.

3. Mellanox Opens Up

Mellanox released what it says is the first 40-Gb/s Ethernet network interface card (NIC) based on work by (and given back to) the Open Compute Project (OCP). The company is also opening up its Ethernet switch chip, making the software development kit (SDK) available on an open-source basis.

The SDK part, which Mellanox first mentioned in the fall, seems particularly intriguing. Startup Centec is the only other Ethernet chip company to open up like that. The question now is whether Broadcom and other companies follow suit. It's also going to be interesting to see what customers do with these newfound powers.

4. ONF Conformance Testing Reaches Criterion

The ONF added its fourth accredited center for OpenFlow conformance and interoperability testing: Criterion Network Labs of India. CNLabs joins the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), Beijing Internet Institute (BII), and the Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE) as approved testing locations. The testing is for OpenFlow 1.0; a conformance program for OpenFlow 1.3 should be ready sometime this year, ONF Executive Director Dan Pitt says.

5. Internet2 Goes on Tour

Internet2 got $1.3 million more to spread the SDN gospel. The grant, from the National Science Foundation (NSF), will go toward having Internet2 reach out to smaller colleges, as opposed to the massive universities that are Internet2 members and that use the consortium's state-of-the-art network.

With the money, Internet2 will host three regional workshops: one Feb. 18 and 19 in Kansas City, Mo., and one on each coast (dates and places to be announced). "Each workshop will focus on technical, organizational, identity and access management and administrative aspects of upgrading and integrating cyberinfrastructure into the campus environment in support of campus based research and teaching activities," Internet2's press release says.

6. And Furthermore

... Glue Networks announced some specifics about its involvement with Cisco's Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI). Cisco announced earlier in the week that it's extending the Insieme architecture down to the enterprise campus, listing a few relevant partners including Glue. In turn, Glue announced the Intelligent WAN (IWAN) application, which helps with WAN features such as security or multipoint VPNs.

... CenturyLink (formerly Savvis) is using the Intelligent Control technology platform from IO in two new colocation deployments in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz. It's the carrier's first Savvis-related presence in the Phoneix area.

... Network Critical, a Buffalo, N.Y. company that sells network monitoring and visibility platforms, announced 127 percent year-on-year growth in the Asia/Pacific market and 71 percent growth in the UK. Both figures presumably compare 2013 revenues to 2012's.

... Here come the Mobile World Congress pitches. NEC announced Monday that it's going to show a virtual evolved packet core (vEPC) and virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) at the Barcelona conference. NFV, particularly for the vEPC, was heavy on my mind when I attended last year, and somehow, I don't think that's going to change this year.