FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) have joined forces to tackle Transport Software Defined Networking (Transport SDN). The two groups are collaborating throughout 2014 on a global Transport SDN demonstration in several carrier-hosted labs.
“We expect SDN, in tandem with Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), to shape the future of telecommunications networks,” said Vishnu Shukla, of Verizon and OIF president. “It is exciting to have these two prominent groups combining resources, innovative thinking and industry support to put together a very relevant and important demo.”
The testing, which will begin in late August in a number of global carrier labs, will leverage the OIF’s carrier representation, knowledge of transport networks, and worldwide interoperability testing experience for optical equipment, with ONF’s leadership role for the OpenFlow™ protocol and SDN architecture. OpenFlow extensions for optical transport developed in the ONF Optical Transport Working Group will be prototyped in the demo.
“We are pleased to join forces with the OIF, who have been contributing to our efforts to extend OpenFlow to support optical transport networks,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “The OIF/ONF Transport SDN demonstration will showcase how transport networks will benefit from SDN and NFV.”
The two groups seek to make the network more programmable to enable a new era of dynamic services. One such application is bandwidth-on-demand services that effectively address inter-enterprise bandwidth peaks such as data transfer between data centers, while optimizing precious network resources. Additional goals are to increase network efficiency and agility, decrease OpEx, maximize revenue generation, and improve ROI.
The OIF is currently working on several initiatives supporting Transport SDN including a carrier-driven Requirements Document and an SDN Framework Document identifying SDN application programming interfaces for a carrier environment.
ONF currently has a number of carrier-focused initiatives underway, including SDN transport, mobile and wireless network applications, carrier-grade SDN, and large-scale network migration.
About the OIF
Launched in 1998, the OIF is the first industry group to unite representatives from data and optical networking disciplines, including many of the world's leading carriers, component manufacturers and system vendors. The OIF promotes the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services through the creation of Implementation Agreements (IAs) for optical, interconnect, network processing, component and networking systems technologies. The OIF actively supports and extends the work of standards bodies and industry forums with the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products. Information on the OIF can be found at http://www.oiforum.com.
About ONF
Launched in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and Yahoo!, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is a growing nonprofit organization with more than 140 members whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of open SDN. ONF promotes open SDN and OpenFlow technologies and standards while fostering a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers, and users. For further details visit the ONF website at: http://www.opennetworking.org.
