Verizon is the latest service provider to join the Open Source Networking Operating System (ONOS) Project. The project, which joined the Linux Foundation as a Collaborative Project, seeks to create a carrier-grade open source software-defined networking (SDN) operating system as well as tools for network functions virtualization (NFV).
The ONOS Project recently marked the one-year anniversary of the release of its first OS iteration. The most recent iteration, Emu (all of the iterations are named after birds) is the fifth released over the past 12 months.
Verizon joins China Unicom and SK Telecom as carriers who have joined the project over the past year. AT&T and NTT were founding members of the project spearheaded by Stanford and UC Berkeley's ON.Lab (see "ON.Lab, backed by AT&T and NTT, offers open source SDN operating system").
"Verizon recognizes the potential of ONOS as an open source SDN platform and the service provider solutions it enables, as well as the promise it holds to transform the networking industry," said Brian Higgins, vice president of network planning at Verizon. "By joining the partnership, we hope to advance open source SDN and NFV solutions based on ONOS and to help shape the future of this ecosystem."
"Verizon's participation, along with other service providers, strengthens the ONOS partnership and the ecosystem," said Guru Parulkar, executive director and board member at ON.Lab's ONOS Project. "Verizon brings value to the ONOS partnership in terms of new requirements, possible use cases, and insights that will shape ONOS today and in the future. We look forward to working with Verizon on the solutions that include CORD [Central Office Re-architected as a Data Center], M-CORD [mobile-focused CORD], and packet-optical convergence."
ONOS Project members have focused on a wide variety of use cases. In addition to those Parulkar mentioned, examples include SDN-IP peering, IP multicast content distribution, and versions of CORD focused on residential services (R-CORD) and mobile applications (E-CORD). AT&T conducted an R-CORD proof-of-concept demonstration last year (see "AT&T, ON.Lab to lead CORD proof-of-concept demonstration"), and an ONOS press release says the service provider will conduct CORD field trials in the first half of this year.
Meanwhile, several vendors have adopted ONOS into their product roadmaps (see, for example, "Ciena offers commercial version of ON.Lab's ONOS SDN software" and "ECI to develop ONOS-based SDN controller"). Internet2 has adopted the OS for its network as well (see "Internet2 deploys ONOS SDN operating system").
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