PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of open Software-Defined Networking (SDN), today announced open registration for the organization’s annual interoperability event. AppFest 2016 will be held May 16-19, 2016 at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, and also an authorized OpenFlow® testing lab. This year’s AppFest will feature ONF’s first-ever “Community Day”, opening the event to the broader SDN community and giving insider access to operators and end users who are not ONF members.
AppFest 2016 is the eighth interoperability event organized by ONF since its inception and the second one to focus on application interoperability as a core theme. Unlike ONF PlugFests, AppFests have a broad focus on SDN application interoperability in addition to OpenFlow interoperability. Participating AppFest vendors will have an opportunity to validate interoperability of their SDN applications on multi-vendor controller and switch platforms. During the Community Day, attendees will have access to onsite training and testing for the ONF-Certified SDN Associate (OCSA) certification provided by Criterion Networks, as well as access to the SDN TestEXPO featuring demonstrations of SDN-enabled data center showcasing real world SDN deployments.
“UNH-IOL has hosted interoperability and testing events across various disciplines for more than 25 years,” said Erica Johnson, UNH-IOL director and chair of the ONF Testing Leadership Council. “We are excited to host AppFest 2016 and welcome the SDN community to our facility. We invite them to come together to test not just the latest OpenFlow products, but also pre-deployment validation of applications as we look to improve interoperability across the SDN ecosystem and grow the SDN industry.”
AppFest events present a unique opportunity for SDN application developers, controllers, and orchestration product vendors to gather in a common location to both validate interoperability of their implementations and quickly assess any gaps in their implementation. While a majority of switch and controller vendors are expected to bring in switches implementing OpenFlow v1.3, application interoperability vendors implementing other southbound protocols are also encouraged to attend. AppFest 2016 will provide a closer look at the OpenFlow compliance of switch products while vendors undertake switch and controller benchmarking in conjunction with test tool vendors registered for the event.
“The ONF AppFest has evolved from the testing of individual switches to the creation of a more complex, multi-vendor, test bed in order to verify application interoperability and identify any potential issues,” noted Jayaprakash Kumar, director of Criterion Network Labs (CNLabs) and vice chair of the ONF Testing and Interoperability Working Group. “This type of testing and collaboration within the community allows for developers to adjust applications based on feedback and resolve issues before they are implemented within real world networking environments.”
ONF’s AppFest 2016 is facilitated by the organization’s Testing and Interoperability Working Group, a group dedicated to increasing interoperability, driving certification and benchmarking the performance of open SDN infrastructure and platforms. The hosting of the Community Day reflects ONF’s increased emphasis on the development and interoperability through open source initiatives like OpenSourceSDN.org. These projects complement the testing and validation efforts accomplished through events like AppFest.
The ONF AppFest 2016 is open to all within the SDN community and will take place on Monday, May 16 through Thursday, May 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT. The Community Day taking place on Thursday, May 19. For more information about ONF’s AppFest 2016 or to register for free, please visit our online registration page.
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 130 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: http://www.opennetworking.org.
