ONF Executive Director Guru Parulkar introduces Foundation’s new game-changing Open Innovation Pipeline strategy.
Last fall, ONF and ON.Lab announced an agreement to become a single organization under the ONF name. Since that time, our aligned operations teams have been hard at work framing the go-forward strategy of the new ONF, an energizing and exciting planning initiative in preparation for our formal merger at the end of 2017.
Today, we have announced the new ONF Open Innovation Pipeline – a strategy that leverages open source platforms, network device disaggregation, and software defined standards to build high value use cases and solutions and to solidify pre-established paths for taking those solutions into operator PoCs, trials and deployment. This framework is the first and only one of its kind in the networking industry and we believe that it’s a game changing in terms of how SDN and NFV will get deployed in networks. It builds on ON.Lab’s advancements with CORD® and ONOS®, two platforms which successfully brought together operators, vendors and integrators to build solutions for carrier networks by leveraging SDN, NFV and Cloud technologies via an open source approach and disaggregated network devices in the form of white boxes. It also draws from ONF’s deep relationships with the operator community.
We understand that the SDN movement initiated by the ONF successfully set the disaggregation of networking devices and control software in motion. It has also fostered the emergence of a broad range open source platforms. We now believe that the industry needs a unifying effort to build solutions out of the numerous disaggregated components. We’re recognizing a trend – one where vendors are leveraging open source to build closed proprietary solutions – and warn that this only provides marginal benefit to the broader ecosystem. The ONF’s Open Innovation Pipeline is designed to counteract this.
Why is the Open Innovation Pipeline needed?
The SDN movement, first initiated by the ONF, has successfully set in motion the disaggregation of networking devices and control software and fostered the emergence of a broad range open source platforms. A trend has emerged where vendors leverage open source to build closed proprietary solutions, providing only marginal benefit to the broader ecosystem. Complexity still challenges many operators, who find building solutions involves the need to integrate many layers of technology, product, customization and integration.
Few players have the resources to invest in building such complex solutions. Innovative offerings have difficulty making it into operator networks because the only route to market is through closed vertically integrated “stovepipe” solutions that tightly integrate together a selection of technologies in ways that result in proprietary barriers to entry.
The industry needs a unifying effort to build solutions out of the numerous disaggregated components. An open platform and clear roadmap is needed to deliver on the promise of SDN and NFV.
ONF will also help a variety of vendors accelerate how an idea or innovation gets adopted into production networks, while operators and system integrators also stand to benefit from the Open Innovation Pipeline. The pipeline allows members of all types to bring their unique innovation and value into the solution. Operators, vendors and integrators all have a role to play, and the pipeline helps integrate these contributions into consumable solutions for operators.
How will the Open Innovation Pipeline accelerate innovation into deployment?
ONF will maintain an integrated open source platform, making it easy for new innovations to focus on where they add value. Vendors and integrators can add value and introduce offerings anywhere along the innovation pipeline. Additionally, to foster interoperability ONF will focus on developing open source interworking APIs and Models by working with the broader open source community. Additionally, data plane innovation will continue to be fostered through standards development for OpenFlow and future offerings.
Want to learn more about the Open Innovation Pipeline Strategy?
We understand that you may have questions about our new strategy. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to read this overview of our new Open Innovation Pipeline strategy.
And, if your travels take you to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the week of February 27, we also encourage you to visit us at the show in Hall 5, Stand 5161 to learn more about this exciting new initiative.
- Guru Parulkar, Executive Director
