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Google Joins New SDN/NFV Open Source Networking Project
Open source groups focusing on software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) have formed a new project, attracting new partners such as Google, Radisys and Samsung.
The project is called CORD (Central Office Re-architected as a Data Center), formed by Open Networking Lab (ON.Lab) and The Linux Foundation, who are building out the fledgling CORD initiative -- conceived to bring "datacenter economics and cloud flexibility to the telco central office and to the entire access network" -- into a separate open source project with independent governance, partners, collaborators and contributors.
The CORD Web site says: "CORD lets the operator manage their central offices using declarative modeling languages for agile, real-time configuration of new customer services. Major service providers like AT&T, SK Telecom, Verizon, China Unicom and NTT Communications are already supporting CORD."
Previously, the CORD initiative was created as just one use case for ONOS, an open source SDN operating system for which ON.Lab provides engineering resources.
"Designed to support connectivity and cloud-based services for residential, enterprise and mobile subscribers, CORD delivers an open source integrated solutions platform for service providers leveraging merchant silicon, white boxes, and open source platforms such as ONOS, OpenStack, Docker, and XOS," ON.Lab and The Linux Foundation said in a statement today.
"We are delighted to welcome Google to the open source ONOS and CORD partnerships," said Guru Parulkar, executive director at ON.Lab. "Given Google's track record as a provider of cloud and access services, we anticipate it will play an important role in strengthening the CORD architecture, implementation and deployments."
[Click on image for larger view.] CORD (source: CORD).
The new partners in the project also weighed in on the announcement.
"CORD presents a revolutionary architecture that uniquely exploits the best of SDN, NFV, and Cloud technologies, creating cutting-edge connectivity and cloud-scale services," said Radisys president and CEO Brian Bronson.
"CORD has the potential to significantly improve the economics and agility of access networks globally," said Ankur Jain, principal engineer at Google. "We are excited to join CORD, host its inaugural summit and work closely with leading ecosystem players to bring greater scalability and rapid innovation to access networks."
That inaugural summit will be held Friday at the Google Sunnyvale Tech Corner Campus in California, designed for industry leaders, network architects and administrators, developers and engineers interested in the CORD project and its disruptive SDN, NFV and cloud technologies that are taking network virtualization into new areas.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.