Here's our look at some of the other software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) happenings of the past week.

Because VMworld is the week before Labor Day, a notoriously dead week for tech news, VMware got to own the news cycle for several days. The full launch of NSX got to hog the spotlight in publications including SDxCentral. Now, at last, Microsoft is putting up its counterargument.

In a blog posting on Monday, Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist Keith Mayer stated the case for his company's network virtualization based on NVGRE, the encapsulation protocol that's quite similar to VMware's VXLAN. The argument is pretty simple: Microsoft says network virtualization is already built into Hyper-V and is shipping now, whereas NSX won't be available until later this quarter.

The OpenDaylight Project added three new members this week: A10 networks, Midokura, and Pantheon Technologies. Midokura, provider of network virtualization under its MidoNet technology, is the name most familiar to the pages of SDxCentral. A10 is an application delivery controller (ADC) vendor founded by early Foundry Networks employees; Pantheon is an IT services and support outfit based in Slovakia.

Considering OpenDaylight is meant to be an industry wide effort, the addition of more companies isn't all that surprising. What's more noteworthy are the absence of certain companies (Big Switch having bowed out while it redefines itself) and the fact that so many big SDN players remain members at the Silver level, suggesting they want to keep an eye on ODP but still aren't completely convinced.

Isn't that cute — the EMC/VMware spinout is out making acquisitions all by itself before going public. Pivotal acquired Xtreme Labs for $65 million cash, according to All Things Digital. The acquisition adds mobile-apps expertise to Pivotal's platform-as-a-service (PaaS) play and is a nod to the tie between mobile access and the cloud.

Alcatel-Lucent announced it's organizing NFV partners to help CloudBand, the company's platform for carrier-class clouds. The CloudBand Ecosystem Program, announced this week, is launching with 15 partners including Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica.