The OpenDaylight Project announced its fifth software-defined networking (SDN) release — Boron — which includes enhancements to cloud and NFV use-case capabilities.

The open source project also saw increased engagement from end users such as service providers.

AT&T led work on YangIDE, which provides support for building new YANG models. Telefonica and Intel led the work on NetIDE, which makes it easier to share apps across controller deployments. And Comcast led EMAN, an initiative for improved energy efficiency for the network.

Boron also provides several enhancements for OpenDaylight to better support cloud and network functions virtualization (NFV). For instance, the NetVirt project includes improved coordination between OpenStack Neutron and the controller. The new architecture enables the ability to grow beyond OpenStack integration by allowing control from other orchestration systems and applications.

The Genius project provides an app-agnostic framework for application composition. This supports the deployment of modular distributed applications as well as service function chaining (SFC). Genius can be used to operate production cloud networks.

As a downstream consumer of OpenDaylight’s platform, the OPNFV project also drove a set of telco requirements and new functionality in Boron. Collaboration between ODL and OPNFV led to a number of improvements, including Proof of Transit, validating service chain packet-flow, enhancements to support FD.io service chain identification, and support for the latest Open vSwitch release.