Lab publishes open networking integrator’s list and launches Open Networking Test Services. Open Compute Project’s Engineering Workshop Today in Boston

October 9, 2015

2 Min Read

Durham, N.H. – Today, at the Open Compute Project Foundation Engineering Workshop in Boston, sponsored and hosted by Fidelity Investments, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, unveiled the industry’s first and only Open Networking Integrator’s List. The Open Networking Integrator’s List will enable choice for enterprises and data center operators and spur competition in the data center networking solutions market. The UNH-IOL also announced the formation of the UNH-IOL Open Networking Test Services Consortium as a means to coordinate ongoing interoperability testing, setting the foundation for a truly cooperative approach to networking.

The UNH-IOL’s Open Networking Integrator’s List is the first and only public directory of independently validated, interoperable combinations of networking products that are based on Open Compute Specifications. The list is based on successful completion of interoperability and conformance tests performed at the laboratory’s most recent Open Networking Plugfest, held September 21-25, 2015 at the UNH-IOL. Devices tested during the Open Networking Plugfest included network operating system (NOS) software, 10G and 40G switches, optical modules, active optical cables, and direct attached copper cables. Participants included 3M, Accton Technology Corporation, Amphenol, Avago, Big Switch Networks, Cumulus Networks, FCI, Finisar, FlexOptix, HP, Lumentum and Mellanox Technologies. The UNH-IOL collaborated on this event and two previous Open Compute Plugfests with the OCP Networking Project, creating tests for disaggregated and open technologies in data center networking. The outcomes of testing performed by the UNH-IOL will build confidence in open networking components, drive expanded choices, reduce costs and enable rapid innovation in the networking arena.

“There is a large community of vendors that believe in open networking and are willing to prove their interoperability in an open fashion,” said Carlos Cardenas, co-chair of the OCP Networking Project. “The results of everything happening here will alter the networking industry by improving customer confidence and increase adoption of open networking.”

Launched in 2011 by Facebook to share innovative and highly efficient data center designs, the OCP Foundation now includes 150 member companies and thousands of participants working in eight groups, including the OCP Networking Project, which is responsible for the organization’s networking specifications. Interest in networking interoperability is growing, with many vendors aiming to reach customers directly, and enterprises of all sizes open to mixing and matching products from different providers. The UNH-IOL Open Networking Integrator’s List, which builds upon testing that began in March 2015, gives data center operators and enterprises with their own data centers the assurance that these combinations of switches, operating systems and optical modules will seamlessly work together. Validated data center networking components will accelerate deployments and enable lower-cost, flexible solutions for organizations that opt against working with single-system data center technology providers.

University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (IOL)

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