Jul 31 2015
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) hosted the second Open Networking Solutions Plugfest to support the acceleration of Open Networking Solutions and to prepare the community for a certification program.
The event, which was held during the week of June 15, 2015, was the next iteration in a series of Plugfests aimed at validating the compatibility of optical transceivers and cables with bare-metal open switches running varying Networking Operating Systems (NOS) software, all from multiple vendors. The success of this event was a crucial step on the path towards an Open Networking Certification program.
Leveraging the outcome of the February 2015 Plugfest, further validation of the operation of open network systems occurred at the test event. The additional validation included baseline analysis of optical transceivers, Active Optical Cables, Direct Attach Cables and host-side electrical analysis. These tests were performed to provide further insight should an interoperability issue arise between a host and a module. In addition, tests were added to enable interoperability testing between two unique bare-metal open switch-NOS systems through a variety of transceivers and cables.
Seven companies participated in the event; 3M, Amphenol, Avago, Cumulus Networks, Finisar, JDSU, and Mellanox. Bare-metal switches were provided by Mellanox. NOS vendors included Cumulus Networks and Mellanox. To complete the open networking solutions, 10Gb and 40Gb optical transceivers from 3M, Avago, Finisar, JDSU and Mellanox were incorporated. 10Gb and 40Gb Active Optical Cables from Avago and Mellanox, as well as Direct Attach Cables (DAC) from Amphenol and 3M were installed. These solutions were then put through a list of tests to validate that they were operating in the open network as expected with respect to the optical transceivers and cables.
The next event is planned for mid-September 2015 at the UNH-IOL in Durham, NH, USA with the intention to launch the Certification program based on the test plan utilized during the event. The end goal of this effort is to enable an Open Networks Certification program giving end users confidence that the individual components needed to create complete networking solutions can be combined to create alternatives to traditional closed solutions. For further information regarding these events, please contact David Woolf at [email protected].
Source: http://www.iol.unh.edu/