LF Networking Expands Ecosystem - Adds Members, Leads Initiatives to Automate 5G deployments and accelerate Automation

• LFN’s ONAP, OPNFV, ODL, and FD.io projects further automated 5G deployments with code releases in 1H as well as  hybrid support for VNF/CNF/NFVI compliance 

• A10 Networks, AMD, Codilime, Mirantis, Robin.io, Solutions by STC, ULAK, University of California San Diego, University of Surrey, and Xilinx join more than 100 other  leading organizations to collaborate, create, test and deploy open source networking software 

• Initiatives such as the Common NFVI Telco Taskforce (CNTT), the OPNFV Verification Program (OVP), and Cloud Native Network Functions evolve and expand across adjacent communities and organizations

SAN FRANCISCO – February 20, 2020 —  LF Networking (LFN), which facilitates collaboration and operational excellence across open networking projects, today announced the addition of nine new members.The project welcomes new Silver members A10 Networks, AMD, Codilime, Mirantis, Robin.io, Solutions by STC, ULAK, and Xilinx, and Associate members University of California San Diego, and University of Surrey.  

“It’s great to kick off 2020 by welcoming a new swath of global members to the LFN community,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge & IoT, the Linux Foundation. “We’re expanding our member ecosystem in tandem with growth across initiatives that harmonize open source an open standards, enable automated testing and deployment, and further Cloud Native Network Functions as open source becomes more mainstream.”

The newest LFN members will work alongside the 100+ existing member organizations to drive development, testing and implementation of LFN’s networking projects, including FD.io, ONAP, OpenDaylight, OpenSwitch, OPNFV, PNDA, SNAS, and Tungsten Fabric.

LFN begins 2020 by evolving joint collaboration across the industry to enable cloud native network functions (CNFs) to shift workloads into Kubernetes clusters using ONAP to orchestrate a variety of functions and services. Other activity includes harmonization with open standards, via the Common NFVI Telco Taskforce (CNTT), jointly hosted by the GSMA. The group recently published an  initial common Reference Model and Reference Architecture as well as hosting a joint hackathon with developers across the LFN community. CNTT enhances the OPNFV Verification Program (OVP) which combines open source-based automated compliance and verification testing for NFV stack specifications established by ONAP, multiple SDOs such as ETSI and GSMA, and the LF Networking End User Advisory Group (EUAG). Current efforts include the next iteration of OVP, with more automation integrated via ONAP. 

Join the Community at Open Networking & Edge Summit (ONES)

Open Networking & Edge Summit (formerly Open Networking Summit), the industry’s premier open networking event now expanded to comprehensively cover Edge Computing, Edge Cloud & IoT, takes place in North America April 20-21 in Los Angeles, Calif and in Europe September 29-30 in Antwerp, Belgium.  ONES enables collaborative development and innovation across enterprises, service providers/telcos and cloud providers to shape the future of networking and edge computing. Join the LFN community in Los Angeles and  register by March 10 for Early Bird pricing: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-networking-edge-summit-north-america/register/

Member Supporting Quotes:

“The Linux Foundation and its members continue to advance open source initiatives across a range of technologies. As network functions become more virtualized and cloud-native, the work the foundation is doing will help enable these network functions as open source. We are honored to join the Linux Foundation to help drive joint initiatives like the end-to-end 5G cloud-native network proof of concept (POC),” said Yasir Liaqatullah, vice president of product management, A10 Networks.  

Bartosz Górski, CodiLime’s Chief Relationship Officer & Board Member is excited about this new opening. “The Linux Foundation, LF Networking and CodiLime have a mutual interest in pursuing the development of open-source networking stack. This has led us to join forces to foster the development of a networking project for the benefit of the entire open-source community. For the last 9 years, CodiLime has gained considerable experience in network engineering providing solutions for industry leaders. Last year we had the opportunity to present our solution based on Tungsten Fabric at the LFN booth at the Open Networking Summit and we got very positive feedback from the community. I believe that 2020 will see even more fruitful collaboration.”

“The LF Networking community is the guiding force of innovation in 5G, Edge, and the next generation of software-defined networking technology,” said Shaun O’Meara, Field CTO at Mirantis. “Mirantis has a history of becoming a significant collaborator in the projects we are part of. As we continue to promote open standards and innovation in our work with Kubernetes, Edge/IoT, and CNFs, we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other members to benefit our customers, partners, and the industry at large.”

“Cloud-native networking is a big challenge with many technologies and technology providers, that’s why open standards and working together as a community are key to solving problems that we all face. There are exciting possibilities in this area for speeding industry adoption of open CNFs and vRAN technology for cost-effective and performant 5G rollout and scaling,”  said Mehran Hadipour, vice president, business development, robin.io.

“LF Networking’s community represents a vibrate, collaborative effort to further the networking industry, and its focus on activities such as VNF compliance and validation, interoperability testing, and ecosystem acceleration is industry-leading. We are pleased to become members of LFN, participate in the OVP program, and accelerate areas such as 5G, cloud native networking, and edge/IoT,” said Metin Balcı, PhD, CEO, ULAK.

“Joining the Linux Foundation Networking Consortium reinforces Xilinx’s commitment to sustainable, open-source ecosystems. Software, 5G, telco, data center and multi-access edge computing developers can now easily take advantage of our adaptable platforms. We’re delighted to join the LF Networking consortium to enable software developers to use our leadership technology,” said Dan Mansur, vice president, Wired and Wireless Communication Group, Xilinx.

About the Newest LFN Members:

A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN) enables service providers, cloud providers and enterprises to ensure their 5G networks and multi-cloud applications are secure. With advanced analytics, machine learning and intelligent automation, business-critical applications are protected, reliable and always available. Founded in 2004, A10 Networks is based in San Jose, Calif. and serves customers in 117 countries worldwide. For more information, visit: www.a10networks.com and @A10Networks.

For 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms and the data center. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. 

CodiLime specializes in building, developing and integrating SDN & NFV solutions in a single-multi- or hybrid-cloud environment. It offers a wide range of services related to network engineering, including front-end and back-end development, DevOps, quality assurance and UX/UI services designed specifically for network applications. The company is also a contributor to Tungsten Fabric, an open-source SDN Controller and has done multiple projects of OpenStack and Kubernetes implementation. Thanks to its expertise, the company has won the confidence of such global industry leaders as Juniper Networks, Nutanix, Nvidia, AT&T, Gigaspaces, Stratoscale, Cloudify, Huawei, IBM and Hitachi. Learn more about CodiLime at https://codilime.com/.

Mirantis helps enterprises move to the cloud on their terms, delivering a true cloud experience on any infrastructure, powered by Kubernetes. The company uses a unique as-a-service model empowering developers to build, share and run their applications anywhere – from public to hybrid cloud and to the edge. Mirantis serves many of the world’s leading enterprises, including Adobe, Citizens Bank, DocuSign, PayPal, Reliance Jio, Splunk, and Volkswagen. Learn more at www.mirantis.com 

Robin.io provides an application automation platform that enables enterprises to deliver complex application pipelines as a service. Built on industry-standard Kubernetes, the Robin platform allows developers and platform engineers to rapidly deploy and easily manage data- and network-centric applications—including big data, NoSQL and 5G—independent of underlying infrastructure resources. The Robin platform is used globally by companies including BNP Paribas, Palo Alto Networks, Rakuten Mobile, SAP, Sabre and USAA. Robin.io is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. More at www.robin.io and Twitter: @robin4K8S.

Solutions by STC is part of Saudi Telecom Company’s ongoing commitment to transform itself into a leading regional ICT player. Solutions is accelerating STC’s enterprise segment growth strategy through providing a wide range of Information and Communications Technology services beyond the traditional Telco offerings of STC. Today, Solutions is the #1 ICT service provider in Saudi Arabia and operates under the umbrella of the Enterprise Business Unit of STC. Solutions provides advanced services and solutions that include IoT/M2M and Digital services, VSAT Services, Cloud Services, Network & Business Continuity Solutions, Data Center Services, Managed Services and ICT Systems Integration; serving STC customers across a wide array of the Saudi market’s vertical segments including the Public Sector, Enterprise, Defense, Utilities, Healthcare, Retail and other private sectors. More about Solutions at https://www.stcs.com.sa/

ULAK provides end to end broadband communications infrastructure for telecom operators with LTE-A Base Stations fully operational in more than 1000 sites; SD-WAN and SD-DC solutions, and concentrates her efforts heavily on 5G technologies, 5GNR, NFV, VNF, MANO, and network virtualization. For more info visit thttps://www.ulakhaberlesme.com.tr/index.php/en/

At the University of California San Diego, we embrace a culture of exploration and experimentation. Established in 1960, UC San Diego has been shaped by exceptional scholars who aren’t afraid to look deeper, challenge expectations and redefine conventional wisdom. As one of the top 15 research universities in the world, we are driving innovation and change to advance society, propel economic growth and make our world a better place. Learn more at www.ucsd.edu.

The University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research. With a beautiful and vibrant campus, we provide exceptional teaching and practical learning to inspire and empower our students for personal and professional success.

Xilinx develops highly flexible and adaptive processing platforms that enable rapid innovation across a variety of technologies – from the endpoint to the edge to the cloud. Xilinx is the inventor of the FPGA, hardware programmable SoCs and the ACAP, designed to deliver the most dynamic processor technology in the industry and enable the adaptable, intelligent and connected world of the future. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

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