Victoria University of Wellington is set to run a Software Defined Network (SDN) workshop for New Zealand's tech community.

The Wellington SDN Workshop will be held on February 18-19 at Victoria University's Pipitea Campus and will give participants a better understanding the latest in network technology, says the University.

“It is early days for SDN technology, but industry leaders such as Google are already making use of it, citing flexibility and that it creates an environment for innovation as reasons for adopting the technology,” the University says.

The content of the workshop has been adapted from a trimester long course at Victoria's School of Engineering and Computer Science.

Dr Bryan Ng, an Engineering lecturer at Victoria, is organising and presenting at the workshop.

Other presenters and contributors of the workshop include industry representatives from Google, REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd), Pica8 and Catalyst.

Along with experts in the field, two Victoria students will present their work. Huu Trung Truong and Matthew Hayes, who carried out research into specific areas of SDN, will showcase their findings.

Ng says connecting academics and Wellington's growing technology industry is an important driver for holding the workshop.

He says, “It used to be that to make a change to how a device worked you had to physically replace the hardware. With SDN, developers are not restricted by the limitations of current hardware.

“With this workshop we are trying to narrow the gap between industry's needs and what researchers are doing to meet those needs."

He says another reason for holding the SDN workshop is to provide people with the skills to enable them to participate in ‘SDN Con' which takes place in Wellington later in the year.

SDN Con, which was first run in 2014, will offer developers the opportunity to work in teams to build SDN solutions.

Attendees need to register by February 13, it will cost $50 per person and more information can be found on the Victoria University website.