Nicira promises virtual networks will transform networking

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the past four years, founders of the start-up company Nicira have been developing cutting-edge software that they predict will transform the networking technology underlying the Internet. Today Nicira has debuted the software, called the Network Virtualization Platform (NVP). As its name implies, the NVP software acts as a virtual network by simulating the routers, switches, and other physical hardware used in data center networks. Yet the virtual network is completely independent of the physical network hardware. This software-defined networking means that operators can reconfigure any piece of a network programmatically rather than having to manually reconfigure the physical hardware.