OpenFlow® Specification Compliance Confirmed by InCNTRE Tests
PALO ALTO, Calif., October 17, 2013 – The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of open Software-Defined Networking (SDN), today announced that NEC Corporation has received the first Certificate of Conformance through the ONF OpenFlow® Conformance Testing Program.
The ONF OpenFlow® Conformance Testing Program was launched in July 2013. The Program provides networking vendors with the opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the OpenFlow® specification, the first SDN standard and a vital element of an open SDN architecture. Testing of NEC’s Programmable Flow switches PF5240 and PF5248 was conducted by Indiana Center for Network Translational Research and Education (InCNTRE), one of the three independent labs approved for ONF OpenFlow® Conformance testing.
“Today ONF celebrates an important accomplishment, a milestone in the process of ensuring that trusted OpenFlow-based SDN solutions are available in the marketplace,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “We congratulate NEC as the first to complete conformance testing for an OpenFlow® product, providing customers with the confidence that the solutions they deploy are truly OpenFlow-capable.”
ONF works with three certified global conformance testing labs: Beijing Internet Institute (BII), InCNTRE, and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab to certify that products meet ONF OpenFlow® Conformance Test Specification requirements. Once these are met, the product is awarded an ONF OpenFlow® Certificate of Conformance, validating that it is using current technology and is guaranteed to accurately implement the OpenFlow® specification.
“NEC is honored to be the first company to receive the OpenFlow® Switch Specification 1.0.1 certificate for our Programmable Flow Switches PF5240 and PF5248,” said Akio Iijima, chief product architect of NEC Corporation’s Converged Network Division. “The 2011 launch of the NEC PF524x family marked the release of the world’s first commercially available SDN solutions. Today’s certification from ONF further demonstrates our commitment to OpenFlow, and to innovative network solutions.”
A Certificate of Conformance from ONF is the highest level of assurance available in the market today to confirm OpenFlow® specification compliance. Vendors with certified products assert their commitment to the OpenFlow® specification, benefitting from shortened development cycles, faster product deployment, opportunities for testing protocols, and more.
“InCNTRE is excited to be involved in the first OpenFlow® Conformance Certification,” said Ron Milford, InCNTRE associate director of testing and interoperability services and vice chair of the ONF Testing and Interoperability Working Group. “This is a critical step in evolution of OpenFlow® and paves the way for greater adoption of SDN by organizations of all sizes.”
For more information about the ONF OpenFlow® Conformance Program, visit: https://opennetworking.org/openflow-conformance.
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 100 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: https://opennetworking.org.
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