Non-profit org formed by big names Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft growing tremendously

It surpasses 100 members in two years.

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Software-Defined Networking (SDN), today announced the continuous expansion of its member community that supports ONF’s mission of driving deployment and commercialization of SDN and the OpenFlow™ protocol. Since its inception in 2011, more than 100 companies worldwide, including the newest additions TorreyPoint, Coriant, and Virtela, have joined ONF to support the open, standards-based SDN movement and participate in technical and market-education activities.

“Our vision to bring software programmability to networks worldwide is becoming a reality with more companies joining our movement and implementing and deploying this innovative technology that is changing the future of networking,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “In the past two years since our public launch, we have seen a significant increase in OpenFlow based switches, controllers, and applications, and real-world deployments of the technology. Our growing member community underscores that we are meeting our goals of expanding SDN awareness and driving commercialization, and we are ever more motivated by their continuing support of our efforts to accelerate the global commercialization of open, standards-based SDN for the benefit of users.”

ONF members worldwide consist of chip companies, system vendors, computer companies, software companies, testing companies, training companies, telecom operators, data-center operators, and a variety of enterprises. Through ONF, companies have access to all OpenFlow-related intellectual property royalty-free and can participate in interoperability events such as PlugFest, as well as technical and educational working groups. Participation in ONF's working groups allows member companies to contribute to essential technology decisions, messages, and market-educational activities that directly impact their customers. Those who operate networks get to steer the movement to meet their needs and influence vendors to produce valued solutions. With support from ONF, member companies today are rolling out innovative, OpenFlow-based products and platforms. Together, the organization and its members continue to advance technical standards and architectural understanding to increase applicability, utility, and implementation.

“SDN is the most disruptive technology since TCP/IP, and must be standardized in order to succeed. ONF provides a standards body to drive interoperability and innovation in the SDN space, fostering a collaborative environment,” said Doug Marschke, CTO of TorreyPoint. “It has been a breath of fresh air to work with an organization that provides true think tank processes, and not just three big vendors in a room driving the discussions. ONF is a place for everyone to help define and create standards that work across vendors. TorreyPoint is excited to be a member as we work on our interoperable northbound API and orchestration systems.”

A full list of ONF member companies is available on the ONF website.

About the ONF
Launched in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and Yahoo!, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is a growing nonprofit organization with more than 80 members whose mission is to advance the commercialization and use of SDN and OpenFlow. ONF will accelerate the delivery and use of SDN and OpenFlow technologies and standards while fostering a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers, and users. For further details visit the ONF website at: https://www.opennetworking.org.