Big Switch Networks today announced its open source Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller, Floodlight, recently completed interoperability testing with Arista, Brocade, Dell, Extreme, HP, and Juniper Networks. The interoperability testing took place at the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) interoperability "PlugFest" event held recently in San Francisco and will continue in a larger setting at the InteropNet Lab in Las Vegas, May 6-10, 2012.

"With more than four thousand downloads since its launch in January, Floodlight and its applications are becoming the interoperability benchmark for SDN," said Kyle Forster, Big Switch Networks’ co-founder. “We received contributions from all around the world and companies of all sizes from carriers to Fortune 500 and start-ups are active in our forum.”

The steadily increasing activity validates an industry-wide Open SDN^TM architecture built on open source, open APIs and open standards. The architecture includes OpenFlow and enables customers to control the network in new ways that drive innovative applications. Big Switch Networks’ Floodlight interoperability testing highlights the coalition of companies dedicated to ensuring that the OpenFlow-based SDN ecosystem remains focused on customer values like interoperability as products already generally available or currently in beta come to market this year.

Supporting Quotes

“SDN has been gaining momentum and we have seen a significant increase in our membership as more companies, including major industry players, have embraced OpenFlow,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF). “By utilizing open standards, member companies can provide a larger choice for customers to ensure better integration and interoperability between different players within the SDN ecosystem and accelerate the delivery of SDN's benefits to the market.”

“The evolution of software defined cloud networking (SDCN) depends on the integration between virtual and physical switching and the ability to move applications seamlessly,” said Bill Erdman, director of business development, Arista Networks. “We are pleased to be interoperable with Big Switch Network’s OpenFlow SDN controller and Arista’s Extensible Operating System (EOS).”

“The success of SDN in enabling innovation lies in fostering an open multi-vendor ecosystem with protocols such as OpenFlow,” said Daniel Williams, director product marketing service provider and application delivery business, Brocade. “Brocade is an early supporter of this movement and has a technology-agnostic approach to SDN to ensure maximum choice for our customers to deliver the business agility they need. We are committed to working with partners to develop compelling solutions for our customers.”

“We’re big believers in the future possibilities that open SDN has for networking,” said Arpit Joshipura, executive director product development and management, Dell Networking. “From a customer standpoint, interoperability isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ it’s a necessity to give them the operational flexibility they need in their networks, whether that’s in the campus, data center or the cloud.”

“Extreme Networks continues to demonstrate its support for open, interoperable, stand-based solutions,” said Marty Lans, sr. director Data Center & Cloud, Extreme Networks. “With SDN you have the decoupling of network policy from the physical network so policies can be better associated with the user. This becomes very powerful tool to build specific applications for all parts of the campus, wireless, data center and cloud-based networks.”

“Juniper Networks has long been committed to open standards and our innovative architectures were built on the premise of using software to give customers unprecedented levels of flexibility and control, thereby transforming the economics and experience of networking,” said Nils Swart, director of product strategy and management at Juniper Networks. “Control of the network through software programmability gives users greater flexibility in the way they work and reduces the barriers to innovation.”

About Big Switch Networks

Big Switch Networks was founded in 2010 to deliver Open SDN™ solutions to cloud networks. Big Switch Networks raised $13.75 million Series A funding led by Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit: http://www.bigswitch.com