Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. has apparently shut down its OpenSDN software-defined networking platform, though it made no official announcement about the decision.

The OpenSDN suite’s products include the HPE OpenSDN 1.0 Data Center Networking Controller, the HPE OpenSDN SD-VPN and the HPE OpenSDN SFC solution.

Word of the move comes by way of The Register, which has seen an internal company memo advising staff of “the End of Sale of the HPE OpenSDN family of solutions, effective immediately.” The memo was sent by Sarwar Raza, HPE’s vice president of product management, and Jacques Rames, an SDN and network function virtualization sales executive at the firm.

“Product and service SKUs from these product families are no longer available for order or fulfillment,” the memo continued. “There are no follow-on releases planned for HPE OpenSDN solutions.”

The memo added that the decision was taken “in light of business and financial considerations,” which suggests that OpenSDN was not doing all that well with customers.

HPE’s OpenSDN product page is still live, and describes the solution as follows: “The HPE OpenSDN Portfolio enhances the functionality of and is complementary to HPE NFV offerings. It is a tested, supported, indemnified and enhanced distribution of the OpenDaylight SDN Controller. It is positioned at the network virtualization layer for NFV deployments and serves as the core controller on which common SDN use cases are built.”

The memo reveals that HPE wants to keep the decision out of the media glare. “HPE is not planning any external announcement regarding this change,” it said. “Communication with affected customers will be coordinated via Account Teams.”

The memo further asks sales teams not to make “any proactive statements to customers,” and instead simply advises them to say that the company has discontinued OpenSDN’s development in favor of partner solutions. Raza and Rames added that HPE will no longer offer any SDN solution for telecommunications providers, but insisted that the company is not pulling back from open-source platforms in general.

“Our decision is not based on merits or otherwise of open source vs proprietary solutions,” they said in the memo. “HPE continues to support open, standards-based solutions as well as best of breed partner solutions depending on specific customer needs.”

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