Open Networking Foundation Formed

Mar 22, 2011

“Stronger definition of network behavior in software is a growing trend, and open interfaces are going to lead to faster innovation,” said Nick McKeown, ONF Board member and professor at Stanford University.

Seeking to accelerate network innovation, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and Yahoo, announce the formation of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a nonprofit organization promoting Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

Other members of ONF include Broadcom, Brocade, Ciena, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Ericsson, Force10, HP, IBM, Juniper Networks, Marvell, NEC, Netgear, NTT, Riverbed Technology and VMware. These companies join the six founding board members to promote the SND approach to networking.

According to ONF faster networking innovation is needed and it believes SDN will enable innovation in all kinds of networks which includes, but not is not necessarily limited to data centers, wide area telecommunication networks, wireless networks, enterprises and more. By using SDN the ONF believes this can be accomplished with what it considers to be simply software changes which should give network owners and operators more and better control over their networks.

A six-year research collaboration between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley resulted in this SND approach to networking. The main components of SND include a software interface (called OpenFlow) and a set of global management interfaces.

According to ONF one of its goal will be will be to adopt and lead the ongoing development of the OpenFlow standard followed by encouraging greater adoption by its member companies from there, defining global management interfaces will begin after these initial goals have been met.

Related content

  • SDN Up Close

    Globalization, rapidly increasing numbers of devices, virtualization, the cloud, and "bring your own device" make classically organized IP networks difficult to plan and manage. Instead of quarreling, some admins address these problems with a radically new approach: Software-defined networking.

    more »
  • Mozilla Joins The Open Invention Network

    The foundation becomes a licensee.

    more »
  • OpenFlow

    The OpenFlow protocol and its surrounding technologies are bringing the promise of SDN to real networks – and it might not be long before you see them on your real network.

    more »
  • OpenDaylight

    Several well-known companies are collaborating on the foundations of future SDN products under the umbrella of the OpenDaylight open source project.

    more »
  • Mininet

    Mininet lets you test new controller features for your software-defined network in a sandbox before releasing them onto your production network.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Issue 255/2022

Buy this issue as a PDF

Digital Issue: Price $12.99
(incl. VAT)

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source