ONOS releases updated SDN platform, integrates with OPNFV

ONOS, the open SDN platform, has released a new version of its operating system, promising integration with OPNFV’s broader platform.

ONOS, which stands for Open Networking Operating System, started off by launching its 6th release, Falcon. The biggest update in this release means Falcon is now part of the latest OPNFV distribution, called Brahmaputra, courtesy of some integration cleverness done by Huawei.

Other features with this release include new new northbound reservation capabilities, courtesy of Fujitsu; new GUI views including the driver matrix and application views; and dynamic cluster scaling support. ON.Lab is ONOS’s biggest proponent, and its VP of Engineering, Bill Snow, reckons the frequent and regular updates keep ONOS driving SDN uptake for telcos.

“ONOS has rapidly evolved to become a platform for service providers to monetize SDN and NFV, while helping vendors and service providers alike to create SDN and NFV solutions leveraging open-source and invent new business models,” he said. “The ONOS project continues rapid innovation and delivery with quarterly releases, and the capability of each release continues to improve with accelerating participation of the community. It is really exciting to see the new PoCs. Our goal has always been to methodically move the use case ideas from concept to trial and then into production.”

Meanwhile, one of the biggest features of the Falcon release has been an update to CORD, which ONOS claims will bring the agility of cloud computing to the service provider central office by using the aforementioned cloud, as well as SDN and NFV. CORD has a variety of use-cases including enterprise services, mobile and residential to help tie together a variety of currently disaggregated business and consumer services, ONOS says.

“[ONOS] has evolved at record speed from a use case of ONOS to a very important systems platform that service providers can use for multiple domains of use,” said Guru Parulkar, Executive Director at ON.Lab. “The list of companies now participating, contributing, using and interested in CORD is already very long and impressive.”

Coinciding with Parulkar’s comments, ONOS also confirmed it has surpassed 50 members after the addition of companies including Cobham Wireless, Corsa and NoviFlow.