OpenDaylight SDN Controller marks 6 years with Neon release

The OpenDaylight (ODL) Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller marked its sixth anniversary with its tenth release — OpenDaylight Neon.

OpenDaylight was founded in 2013 as an open source framework to accelerate adoption, foster innovation, and create a more open and transparent approach to SDN. It was the Linux Foundation’s first networking project and is now part of LFN. ODL helps power over 1B global network subscribers.

The Linux Foundation said it continues to see more industry partners deploy the ODL platform and realize the power of open SDN/NFV. Recent examples include:

Coweaver, one of the largest optical network system makers in South Korea, used ODL to build its Network Management Service (NMS), which is leveraged by South Korean and global vendors.

FRINX’s UniConfig, now powered by PANTHEON.tech’s lighty.io, is based on OpenDaylight and enables vendors to build and deploy applications faster.
Inspur’s OpenDaylight-based SDN controller is used to manage virtual and physical devices for both enterprise and government cloud environments in China.
Partnership between NoviFlow and Lumina Networks, a provider of OpenDaylight-based SDN Controller solutions, who together are using OpenDaylight as part of a solution to create and deliver an intent-based Terabit-scale network that reduces costs and network complexity.
Lumina Networks also just announced Lumina Extension & Adaptation Platform, LEAP, which is a platform that extends the benefits of OpenDaylight to legacy devices as well as advanced model-to-model translation, and a cloud native app (or MicroServices) dev environment.
Telecom Argentina has chosen OpenDaylight for a wide range of use cases, including the enablement of CDN traffic optimization capability that improves customer experience and reduces data transport costs.
Integration with other open source communities continues to grow, including collaborations with OpenStack, Kubernetes, OPNFV, and ONAP. ONAP is using OpenDaylight in its APP-C, SDN-C, and SDN-R projects for use cases like 5G and CCVPN.
Meanwhile, SDN adopters – including AT&T, CableLabs, China Mobile, Ericsson, Globo.com, Orange, Tencent, Verizon, and more – continue to leverage OpenDaylight within their networks and solutions.

OpenDaylight Neon brings updated features important to networking use cases, such as optical transport networking, WAN connectivity and routing, as well as virtual networking in cloud and edge environments. Neon also features new stability and scalability enhancements, and cements the project’s leadership in working with other open source communities to expedite next-generation networking solutions.

Specific enhancements in OpenDaylight Neon include:

Cloud/Edge Network Virtualization features have been hardened with the Neon release to further enhance the suitability of OpenDaylight in production networks.

Optical Transport Infrastructure Control now offers new features that ensure interoperability with higher level controllers using an open northbound API.

WAN Connectivity: Building on Fluorine’s mature BGP stack, Neon brings enhancements that improve error reporting, restarts and network stability.

Improved Stability and Reliability: Neon includes improvements in stability and scale, in addition to functional enhancements and bug fixes. OpenDaylight continues to undergo infrastructure enhancements making it easier for vendors and downstream open source projects to rapidly put-together and deploy OpenDaylight-dependent products and platforms.

“This has been possible in large part due to the modular and extensible software architecture which makes it possible to use OpenDaylight in a variety of use cases,” said Abhijit Kumbhare, OpenDaylight Technical Steering Committee chair.

“Neon speaks to OpenDaylight’s longevity as well as its integration with other projects like Kubernetes, ONAP, OPNFV, and OpenStack,” said Phil Robb, vice president, Operations, Networking, and Orchestration, the Linux Foundation. “I am continually impressed by the community’s cohesiveness in delivering platform releases with updates and features that enhance evolving SDN use cases.”

“We are pleased to congratulate OpenDaylight on its sixth birthday,” said Brian Freeman, Distinguished Member Technical Staff, AT&T Labs. “AT&T has been using OpenDaylight since Hydrogen, with production deployments since Helium in 2015. Today, we have global deployments with L3 applications using BGPCEP and NETCONF. Our deployments span control of L0 OpenROADM devices to L7 Mobility PNFs and VNFs. Needless to say, we look forward to test-driving Neon and deploying it to production.”