Juniper submits the OpenContrail Plugin to OpenDaylight as a possible standard.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

April 21, 2014

3 Min Read
Juniper Gives OpenDaylight Some Loving

You ever buy something and decide you hated it when you got it home? That seemed what might be going on with Juniper and OpenDaylight. Juniper is a Platinum Sponsor of the SDN organization, but it's kept the relationship at arm's length.

Now, Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) seems to be warming up to the OpenDaylight Project. Juniper recently named a representative to the project's Technical Steering Committee. And last week it submitted the OpenContrail Plugin to OpenDaylight.

The plug-in would allow Juniper's OpenContrail SDN controller to coordinate with the OpenDaylight SDN controller. The plugin works with Neutron, the networking component of the OpenStack cloud stack. It allows OpenStack, OpenContrail, and OpenDaylight to work together.

Figure 1: Buyer's Remorse Seemed like a nice-looking outfit until I got it home. Image source: Ian Ransley Seemed like a nice-looking outfit until I got it home. Image source: Ian Ransley

OpenContrail is the prime manifestation of Juniper's ambivalence toward OpenDaylight. Juniper bought SDN startup Contrail Systems in December 2012 for $176 million cash and stock. It released Contrail's SDN controller as open-source. (See Juniper Buys Contrail for (More) SDN Smarts and Defining SDN & NFV.)

And Juniper is also backing OpenDaylight -- another open-source SDN controller. As a Platinum sponsor, Juniper pays $500,000 per year to the project and is committed to dedicating 10 full-time equivalent staff, usually developers, but potentially involved in test or documentation, OpenDaylight Project executive director Nicholas "Neela" Jacques tells Light Reading.

Further complicating matters: Juniper has reportedly failed to meet its 10-person commitment to staffing OpenDaylight, and has forbidden employees from working with OpenDaylight capabilities that might conflict with OpenContrail.

"Factually speaking, you haven't seen a ton of activity from Juniper in the OpenDaylight Project," says Jacques. He's encouraged by recent activity from Juniper. "I think there is tremendous potential for Juniper to get more involved in OpenDaylight. I'm going to take the optimistic side. I think and believe they've been thinking along the right lines."

I asked Juniper for comment; its PR department sent back the following statement, attributed to Jennifer Lin, senior director of product management for Juniper and OpenDaylight Board member:

  • Juniper Networks firmly believes that open source and open standards lead the way to greater levels of innovation, and Juniper continues to actively participate and contribute to key communities associated with SDN including OpenDaylight, ETSI and the Open Networking Foundation. When OpenContrail was released, we made the source code available to the open source community and reinforced our commitment to the OpenDaylight Project. The OpenContrail plug-in proposal is the first step toward that pledge and demonstrates Juniper's ongoing commitment to open, industry collaboration as we deliver on our cloud roadmap.

In addition to Lin, last month Juniper named Kent Watsen as its representative to the OpenDaylight Technical Steering Committee.

— Mitch Wagner, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profileFollow me on Facebook, West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].

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About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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