With OpenDaylight out of the shadows and practically every large vendor preaching a software-defined networking (SDN) architecture, what happens next for the smaller companies that got SDN noticed in the first place? The question goes hand-in-hand with the growth of the Open Networking Summit, taking place this week in Santa Clara, Calif. Formerly a cliquey 400-person gathering at Stanford University, the ONS has grown to 1,500 and would have been larger if the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) hadn't capped attendance. Everybody wants in. We sat down with ONF Executive Director Dan Pitt to get his take on what's changed in two short years, and what it means for the SDN cause. Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location.

Check back with Light Reading for coverage of the ONS during the next couple of days, including photos. And if you're at the show, you can check out the service-provider panel I'll be chairing on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Pacific, featuring speakers from NTT Communications Corp., Internet2 and Ericsson AB. For more

— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading