Software-defined networks will provide some of this flexibility by separating the control function from data forwarding, but there are additional capabilities emerging, he says, such as intelligent switching of wavelengths, the ability to mix dedicated bandwidth with best-efforts networks, and application layer network traffic optimization, e.g.

FORBES: It's The Year Of The Network

While the majority of the industry is focused on devices and their integration, other are fast-forwarding this data trend.

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