1 Cumulus Networks Launches 1st Linux OS  for Datacenter  Networking

Cumulus Networks, a start-up backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, launched what it calls the first “true, full-featured Linux OS for datacenter networking.”  Read Matt's post on the significance this announcement may have for the SDN industry.

2 CloudSigma Next-Generation Private Patching Enables Secure, High-Performance Hybrid Clouds

The latest version of CloudSigma from this pure-cloud IaaS provider creates seamless hybrid clouds to improve interoperability and performance. In addition to transparent private-public cloud patching, new capabilities allow customers to mirror their on-premises infrastructure for cloud bursting or disaster recovery purposes. Data portability and security are significantly improved though connecting the customer’s infrastructure to the VLANs within CloudSigma’s public cloud via a private IP-only solution.

Customers can run one environment both inside and outside of CloudSigma’s cloud, eliminating the overhead of maintaining two platforms. Next generation virtual networking technologies boost VM-to-VM connectivity speeds and with CloudSigma’s solid-state drive (SSD) storage, companies can achieve higher performance than dedicated or private cloud arrangements, even in a public cloud, multi-tenant environment.

The company claims that customers who are hosting environments with CloudSigma 2.0 have already seen at least a 30 percent performance improvement in scalability, compute power and resource utilization.

According to CloudSigma CEO and co-founder Robert Jenkins, CloudSigma 2.0 represents “… a new level of interoperability and hybrid cloud integration, and (has) broadened the user’s ability to customize their service, all while maintaining our open and transparent model.”

For more information about CloudSigma 2.0 and its new features, visit the company's website.

3 Success of OpenDaylight HackFest #2 Highlights SDN Innovation & Collaboration

OpenDaylight, an open source project formed under the Linux Foundation to promote the adoption and innovation of Software Defined Networking (SDN) through the creation of a common industry-supported framework, recently welcomed 65 developers from over 25 companies to its second HackFest, held June 6-7 in San Jose, CA.

Essentially, the OpenDaylight project is building an open source SDN stack – members and non-members alike came together to work on the evolving OpenDaylight controller architecture and write code. Two key areas of interest at this event were a) the merge proposal for the Dixon-Erickson (D-E) plan and an in-depth discussion of the Virtual Tenant Networking (VTN) proposal originated by NEC.

The D-E plan is a proposal by David Erickson of Stanford and Colin Dixon from IBM to merge the code bases from two core controllers; one contributed by Cisco, and the other contributed by Big Switch Networks. During the conference, the group created a Host Tracker to prioritize and categorize the work to be done, labored to resolve performance issues and discussed how the Service Abstraction Layer (SAL) needs to evolve to a model-driven architecture.

OpenDaylight VTN is a program that configures the VTN model; i.e., an application that provides a multi-tenant virtual network on an SDN controller. The VTN is a logical abstraction plane that enables its complete separation from the physical plane. Users can design and deploy any desired network as if it were a conventional L2/L3 network without knowing the physical network topology or bandwidth restrictions. As defined, the logical plane makes it possible not only to hide the complexity of the underlying network but also to better manage network resources, reducing reconfiguration time of network services and minimizing network configuration errors.

Most importantly, those attending the HackFest witnessed the growth in interest and participation of the developer community in the various development activities that comprise OpenDaylight. The free-form nature of the event facilitated collaboration among project veterans, key developers and newcomers based on their mutual areas of interest.

Those interested in attending the next HackFest, planned for July 22-23 in Portland Oregon, register here.

4 Pica8 Open SDN Switches Help Power OCEAN Research

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, researchers in the Ocean Cluster for Experimental Architectures in Networks (OCEAN) laboratory are using the Pica8 SDN platform to build new, networked systems ranging from real-time verification of network security to data center network architectures that improve flexibility and efficiency.

Providing an SDN-capable network test bed, Pica8 switches running the PicOS™ open network operating system incorporate standards-based Layer 2/Layer 3 protocols into existing networks. Open vSwitch (OVS) runs as a process within PicOS and provides the OpenFlow 1.2 interface for external programmability and integration with CloudStack or OpenStack. From low-level physical wiring to network protocols and applications, Pica8 hardware independence and network programmability facilitate the OCEAN lab’s research in software-defined networks, security, cloud computing and low-latency networks.

For more information about the Pica8 open switch SDN solution, visit the company’s website.

5 Third ONF PlugFest Drives Commercialization of SDN & OpenFlow

The Open Networking Foundation hosted its third PlugFest, an event designed to promote interoperability, deployment, and commercialization of Software Defined Networking and the OpenFlow™ protocol.  Held June 3-7 at the Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE), the semi-annual gathering brought nearly 50 network engineers together from 20 member companies with a shared commitment to ensuring that new SDN protocols work across their respective products.

Member companies had the opportunity to test commercial and test controllers, virtual switches and hardware with OpenFlow versions 1.0, 1.2, and 1.3 for use cases that can be commercially applied to data center, service provider, and enterprise markets. During the event, more than 90 percent of member companies participated in testing OpenFlow 1.3 to address complex network behavior, optimize performance, and leverage a richer set of capabilities. In addition, innovative test cases were successfully deployed with OpenFlow 1.3 in IPv6 and MPLS.

Michael Haugh, senior manager market development at Ixia and chair of the ONF Testing & Interoperability Working Group stated that the recent PlugFest “… demonstrated that ONF has successfully encouraged implementation of OpenFlow 1.3 within its membership.”  The PlugFest testing showcased the industry’s ability to add new resources and functions that make SDN and the OpenFlow protocol more scalable.

The next ONF PlugFest will be held at the InCNTRE lab November 2013.