Communications of the ACM
Tech Titans Plot to Reprogram Internet of the Future
Many tech firms are collaborating to create open source software-defined networking, which holds the potential to enable the creation of networks that are more flexible than conventional networks.
Credit: Tech Fond
The Internet and corporations still largely depend on switches, routers, and other networking hardware, but these components run on aging software that makes it nearly impossible for the gear to do something new.
Google hopes to change this by designing its own networking hardware that operates its own software; this trend is called software-defined networking (SDN) and provides more leeway in purchasing hardware.
Many tech firms are now collaborating to develop an open source SDN project known as OpenDaylight. Its backers include Cisco, Juniper, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Microsoft, which hope to create software that enables the creation of networks that are more flexible than conventional ones. Ideally, networks will be able to mix and match software and hardware from multiple sources.
"With mobile and social and cloud computing, networks are growing to unprecedented sizes, and we've been forced to find new ways of building them," says Wiretap Ventures' Matthew Palmer.
OpenDaylight is comparable to an existing project called Floodlight, overseen by Big Switch Networks, which also has joined the OpenDaylight initiative.
From Wired News
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