The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) completed its fifth semi-annual PlugFest last month at two of ONF’s global testing facilities: the Beijing Internet Institute (BII) in Beijing, China and the Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE) at Indiana University. This was the first time on ONF PlugFest occurred outside the U.S. and the first time it was staged simultaneously in multiple locations.
The event provided participating companies the opportunity to test for interoperability and enhance implementations of OpenFlow v1.3 in commercial and test controllers and switches. OpenFlow v1.3 includes capabilities that are finely tuned for commercial and enterprise networks, such as quality-of-service, Q-in-Q VLAN tunneling, group tables, active-standby controller, and IPv6.
“This PlugFest marked an important milestone for OpenFlow v1.3, as it was the third time this version had been tested which featured more maturity and advanced features on products from multiple vendors,” said Michael Haugh, product marketing director at Ixia and chair of the Open Networking Foundation Testing and Interoperability Working Group. “The ability to test products on OpenFlow v1.3 provides the framework for carrier-grade SDN and promotes the growth and adoption we continue to see in the OpenFlow protocol.”
“PlugFests provide a great opportunity for ONF to drive interoperability, deployment, and commercialization of OpenFlow-based SDN,” said Rick Bauer, technical program manager of the Open Networking Foundation. “With this being our first global PlugFest, the wide spectrum of participating member companies was a testament to SDN’s growing international footprint.”
Attendees of the PlugFest included approximately 50 representatives from 18 participating ONF member companies, including Brocade, Centec Networks, Digital China Networks, Ltd., Freescale, GreeNet, H3C, HP, IBM, Infoblox, Ixia (Net Optics), Luxoft, NEC, Netronome, NoviFlow, Pica8, Spirent, xNet, and ZTE.
