Additional Software Defined Networking (SDN) websites are categorized as:
General Information
Recent News
Resources for Deployment and Testing
General Information
Here are some websites providing general information about Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and associated software architectures:
Recent News
Here are some blogs and websites providing recent news about SDN and associated software architectures:
- ComputerWeekly.com
- InfoQ
- Layer123
- LightReading
- Networkworld
- SDXCentral (Cloud Articles, Whitepapers, Videos, & more)
Resources for Deployment and Testing
Here are some websites providing resources for deployment and testing of SDN or associated software architectures:
- GitHub
- Global Environment for Networking Innovation (GENI) wiki
- IETF Request for Comments (RFCs) (searching for “software defined”)
- KeepingITClassless (searching for “SDN”)
- SDN Lab
Return to the SDN FAQ page.
A knowledge base is a web-based collection of material about some topic together with a search capability to discover information about that topic. The Search … box appears at the top of every screen in the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Knowledge Base. The SDN Knowledge Base does not include a site map, but the articles available in the SDN Knowledge Base are listed in the column to the left and are as follows:
- SDN Knowledge Base – this article describes the purpose of the SDN Knowledge Base, suggests how someone new to the SDN Knowledge Base might begin exploring it, and gives a brief history of how DREN started using SDN
- Software-Defined Overview – this article begins by briefly contrasting SDN architecture deployments with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) deployments and then offers a high-level overview of numerous SDN and associated software architectures, providing references to more detailed material
- SDN Policy, Guidance and Best Prectices – this article provides a list of policy, guidance and best practices documents issued by organizations both inside and outside the United States
- SDN Lessons Learned, Training, and Testing – this article provides an organized collection of lessons learned materials from many sources that have deployed a new or updated an existing networking infrastructure plus training and testing information for those already using or planning to use SDN or associated software architectures
- SDN Points of Contact – this article identifies some of the open source communities, standards development organizations, and software development organizations engaged in developing, analyzing, standardizing or evaluating SDN or associated software architectures
- Frequently Asked Questions – this article provides basic information about topics of interest to people new to SDN or associated software architectures
These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) provide basic information about topics of interest to people new to Software-Defined Networking (SDN) or associated software architectures.
- What is the structure of the SDN Knowledge Base?
- What are some additional SDN Websites?
- What is Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and why does it matter?
- What is Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and why does it matter?
- What are some solutions to rapidly deploy SDN on existing networks?
- SDN and NFV: what's the difference?
- What do Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) and similar terms mean?
Answers to other questions about SDN can be found in this SDN FAQ. (Even through that article is several years old, the questions [and answers] are still pertinent.)
To contribute an article to the SDN knowledge base, or to correct/update an existing article, please contact sdn-team [at] dren.mil.
Listed below are some Points of Contact (PoCs) for United States (US) government organizations and non-government organizations including open-source communities, standards development organizations (SDOs), and software development organizations (SWDOs) engaged in developing, analyzing or evaluating software or hardware employing Software-Defined Networking (SDN) or associated technologies.
An SWDO is an organization formed by one or more interested individuals, non-commercial organizations and commercial companies. SDOs are similar to SWDOs in many organizational aspects, but their purposes are quite different. The purpose of an SDO is to develop, publish and maintain standards and policies within a defined scope of responsibility. One purpose of an SWDO is to develop, publish, maintain, and possibly even promote use of software (or devices and related software) within a defined scope of responsibility, and (for a few SWDOs) another purpose is to function as an SDO for that software. An SWDO may have additional purposes that are not limited to software development, such as hardware development. The scope of any SDO or SWDO may be self-defined or their scope may be defined by a higher level organization.
These PoCs may be used to discover and ask questions about their past results, current activities, and future directions. This list is not intended to be either authoritative or exhaustive.
Reminder: This information is not to be used for commercial purposes, such as promotion of commercial products or services.
SDN Points of Contact |
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Name |
Website |
Contact |
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US Government |
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American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) |
ACT-IAC [at] actiac.org |
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IT Sector Coordinating Council (IT SCC) |
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National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) |
nstac [at] cisa.dhs.gov |
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Non-Government Organizations |
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Open-Source Communities |
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Anuket under the auspices of The LF |
https://anuket.io/ [previously Common NFVi Telco Taskforce (CNTT) and Open Platform for NFV Project, Inc. (OPNFV)] (See announcement.) |
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The Ceph Foundation under the auspices of The LF |
ceph-community [at] lists.ceph.com |
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Central Office Re-Architected as a Datacenter (CORD) under the auspices of the LF |
info [at] opennetworking.org |
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Cloud Foundry Foundation under the auspices of The LF |
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Cloud Foundry Foundation active projects |
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Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) under the auspices of The LF |
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Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) under the auspices of The LF |
admin [at] dpdk.org |
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The Disaggregated Enterprise Network Technology (DENT) project under the auspices of The LF |
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Fast Data Project (FD.io) under the auspices of The LF |
info [at] fd.io |
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flexiWAN |
click on CONTACT US |
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Gohan |
info_cloudwan [at] ntti3.com |
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Grafeas ("Scribe" in Greek) |
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Kata Containers under the auspices of the Open Infrastructure Foundation |
mailman [at] lists.katacontainers.io |
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Knative |
Knative users Group |
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The Linux Foundation (The LF) (See Note 1 below) |
info [at] linuxfoundation.org |
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The Linux Foundation Europe |
Info (at) linuxfoundation.eu |
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LF Projects, LLC |
manager [at] lfprojects.org |
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LF EDGE, under the auspices of The LF |
https://www.lfedge.org/ (umbrella organization for projects including Akraino, Alvarium, Baetyl, EdgeX, eKupier, Foundry, Fledge, Home Edge, Open Glossary for Edge Computing, Open Horizon, Project EVE, Secure Device OnBoard and State of the Edge) |
Complete form on Contact Us webpage and click on submit |
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NEPHIO Project, under the auspices of The LF |
Complete form on Contact webpage and click on SUBMIT |
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Netconf Working Group, under the auspices of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) |
netconf [at] ietf.org |
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Open Baton |
info [at] openbaton.org |
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Open Compute Project (OCP) |
opencompute-networking [at] lists.opencompute.org |
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Open Container Initiative (OCI) under the auspices of The LF |
info [at] opencontainers.org |
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Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework |
Read the OCSF Contribution Guide |
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Open Distributed Infrastructure Management (ODIM) under the auspices of The LF |
odim-general [at] lists.odim.io |
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OpenFastPath Foundation |
odp [at] lists.opendataplane.org |
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Open Modeling and Simulation Architecture (OpenMSA) |
OpenMSA, a Google group (Subscription required) |
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Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) under the auspices of The LF |
https://www.onap.org/ (a merger of the Open-O project and the AT&T Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management, and Policy [ECOMP] platform) |
At the bottom of the opening page, fill in the Stay Connected form and click on SIGN UP |
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Open-Source Hybrid IP/SDN (OSHI) |
http://netgroup.uniroma2.it/twiki/bin/view/Oshi (OSHI is defunct. Website is for reference.) |
oshi-list [at] googlegroups.com |
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Open-Source MANagement and Orchestration (MANO), under the auspices of the ETSI |
OSMsupport [at] etsi.org |
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Open-Source Network Operating System (ONOS) under the auspices of The LF |
info [at] opennetworking.org |
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Open-Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) under the auspices of The LF |
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Open vSwitch under the auspices of The LF |
discuss [at] openvswitch.org |
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OpenConfig |
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en%23!forum/netopenconfig#!forum/os-openconfig |
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The OpenDaylight (ODL) Project under the auspices of The LF |
info [at] opendaylight.org |
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OpenFlowSec.org |
click on Contact Us button |
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OpenSwitch (OPX) Network Operating System (NOS) under the auspices of The LF |
mailman [at] lists.openswitch.net |
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Platform for Network Data Analytics (PNDA) under the auspices of The LF |
info [at] pnda.io |
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Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance (P-QCA) under the auspices of The LF |
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Project Floodlight |
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P4 Language Consortium under the auspices of The LF |
p4-discuss [at] lists.p4.org |
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RouteFlow Project |
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Streaming Network Analytics System (SNAS) under the auspices of The LF |
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Tungsten Fabric under the auspices of The LF |
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/tungsten-users (In Mar 2018 Opencontrail finalized a merger with Tungsten Fabric) |
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Zuul under the auspices of the Open Infrastructure Foundation |
zuul-announce [at] lists.zuul-ci.org |
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SDO Points of Contact |
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The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) |
info [at] 3gpp.org |
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The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) (See Note 1 below) |
info [at] etsi.org |
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Industry Specifications Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), under the auspices of ETSI |
ISGsupport [at] etsi.org |
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Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Software Defined Networks Initiative |
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Interface to the Routing System (I2RS), under the auspices of the IETF |
i2rs [at] ietf.org |
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ITU-T SG-13: Future networks, with focus on IMT-2020, cloud computing and trusted network infrastructures, under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector |
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/2017-2020/13/Pages/default.aspx |
tsbsg13 [at] itu.int |
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Network Services Interface Working Group |
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Network Services Management Work Group, under the auspices of the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. |
https://www.dmtf.org/contact/working-groups |
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Small Cell Forum |
Click on Get In Touch, fill out the contact form, and click on SUBMIT FORM |
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SWDO Points of Contact |
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Anuket under the auspices of The LF |
https://anuket.io/ [previously Common NFVi Telco Taskforce (CNTT) and Open Platform for NFV Project, Inc. (OPNFV)] (See announcement.) |
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Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) |
info [at] cengn.ca |
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Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) Association (GSMA) |
On the Contact Us web page, complete the form, check the Email Consent box, and click on SUBMIT |
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Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) |
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Open Networking Foundation (ONF) (See note 2 below.) |
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Open Networking User Group (ONUG) |
Fill out the Contact form and click on Submit |
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Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) |
At the bottom of the opening page, fill in the Get Latest News and Updates form and click on SIGN UP |
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Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) and Zero Trust Working Group, under the auspices of the Cloud Security Alliance |
https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/working-groups/software-defined-perimeter-and-zero-trust/ |
info [at] cloudsecurityalliance.org |
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Note 1: The ETSI and The LF signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April, 2019, enabling industry standards and open-source collaboration.
Note 2: The ONF announced in Dec 2023 that it is merging its portfolio of open source networking projects into The LF as independent projects.
The IEEE SDN Initiative maintains a collection of PoCs for open-source communities, SDOs, and SWDOs (which they call Hybrid Standard/Open-Source organizations) available here, while the IEEE SDN Wiki maintains a collection of PoCs for SDOs available here. The opensource.com website maintains a collection of PoCs for open-source communities. Another collection of PoCs which includes open-source communities and SWDOs engaged in developing, analyzing and evaluating SDN or associated technologies is available here (registration required). A survey of international SDOs efforts to develop, analyze and evaluate standards for SDN and associated technologies is available here.
The materials collected here document the experiences of those who have:
- deployed a new or updated an existing networking infrastructure including Software-Defined Networking (SDN) or associated software architectures such as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).
- developed or updated networking devices, software, or procedures including support for SDN or associated software architectures such as NFV and Virtual/Virtualized Network Functions (VNF).
While not limited to the topic of deploying SDN, the article 8 Lessons from 20 Years of Hype Cycles still provides lessons that are relevant to the topic of deploying SDN technology.
Training and testing materials for those already using or planning to use SDN or associated software architectures are also provided.
No attempt has been made to extract lessons learned. Instead, original documents are referenced so that the lessons learned can be understood in context. A best-practices document describes actions or practices that are known to produce good outcomes when followed..
Materials listed below come from a wide variety of sources, including conference presentations, research papers, industry studies, commercial provider publications, and other websites. Material was included because of its informational content, rather than to promote interest in SDN and associated software architectures or any particular company. The lessons learned material is organized as follows:
- Networking customers(e.g., government, industry, educational or research organizations)
- Service providers(e.g., Internet Service Providers, internet exchange operators, or wireless carriers)
- Data center and cloud service operators, content providers(e.g., Internet Content Providers or Over-The-Top content providers)
- Commercial providers(i.e., companies that manufacture, sell or support networking devices, functions, software or services)
- Groups(open-source communities, standards development organizations and trade groups)
- Websites, Small-Medium Businesses [SMB], and individuals(researchers and developers)
and the training and testing materials are organized as follows:
- Training Resources(presentations, papers, books, hands-on tutorials, software tools)
- Testing Resources(measurement, methodology, test beds, testing, troubleshooting)
In alphabetical order within each category, each entry provides a source, date of creation and title with a link to the web address of the presentation, paper, video, website, or book.
- Networking customers.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Cornell University |
2013 |
|
Department of Energy |
2015 |
|
|
|
|
Duke University |
2015 |
|
|
2016 |
ConCERNing SDN (review of lessons learned designing, building, and operating an intercampus network) |
Florida International University |
2015 |
FELIX: FEderated Test-beds for Large-scale Infrastructure eXperiments |
Global Environment for Networking Innovation (GENI) |
2014 |
GENI: A federated testbed for innovative network experiments (NOTE: Registration required) |
|
2012 |
Openflow@Google (video available here) |
|
2013 |
B4: Experience with a Globally-Deployed Software Defined WAN (video available here) |
|
2015 |
|
|
2016 |
|
|
2016 |
|
|
2016 |
Lessons Learned from B4, Google's SDN WAN (video available here) |
Internet2 |
2012 |
|
|
2015 |
|
|
2015 |
|
Internet 2 & Open Network Operating System (ONOS) |
2015 |
|
|
2015 |
Internet2 Implements First Large-scale Deployment of ONOS in Live Network |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
2015 |
|
Microsoft |
2014 |
Real-World SDN: 5 Lessons: |
Stanford University |
2013 |
Maturing of OpenFlow and Software-Defined Networking through Deployments |
- Service providers.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Accedian Networks |
2016 |
NFV and SDN Lessons from vCPE Deployments (video available here) |
American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) |
2013 |
|
|
2017 |
OpenContrail as SDN controller for NFV infrastructure in AT&T network |
CenturyLink, Inc. |
2014 |
|
Ciena Corporation |
2020 |
|
Deutsche Telekom AG |
2013 |
|
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) |
2018 |
|
Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. |
2014 |
Software-Defined Networking for the Utilities and Energy Sector |
Global Environment for Networking Innovations (GENI) |
2014 |
Workshop on Prototyping and Deploying Experimental Software Defined Exchanges (SDXs) (in particular, the Workshop Outbrief) |
Huawei |
2015 |
|
|
2016 |
|
Network Operations and Internet SEcurity (NOISE), Princeton |
on-going |
|
NTT America - An NTT Communications Company |
2013 |
|
Openwave Mobility |
2017 |
|
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) |
2022 |
|
Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd (REANNZ) & Wellington Internet Exchange (WIX) |
2014 |
|
Rothenberg, Chua, et al |
2014 |
|
SKT, Viva Kuwait, and ZTE |
2018 |
Migration from Physical to Virtual Network Functions – Best-practices and Lessons Learned |
Verizon |
2016 |
Lessons Learned: Deploying NFV infrastructure at Verizon (video) Notes on the video |
|
2016 |
Verizon Network Infrastructure Planning: SDN-NFV Reference Architecture (technical details) |
- Data center and cloud service, content providers.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Alibaba |
2015 |
|
Amazon |
|
|
ACMQueue |
2006 |
|
High Scalability blog entry |
2007 |
|
eBay inc. |
2015 |
SDN Networks at web scale (video) |
|
2015 |
|
|
2015 |
|
|
2014 |
Enter the Andromeda zone – Google’s Cloud Platform (video available here) |
|
2015 |
A look inside Google’s Data Center Networks (video available here) |
Intel Corporation |
2014 |
|
|
2016 |
|
Microsoft |
2013 |
|
|
2013 |
|
|
2014 |
|
|
2015 |
|
|
2016 |
|
|
2017 |
VFP: A Virtual Switch Platform for Host SDN in the Public Cloud |
|
2018 |
Azure Accelerated Networking: Smart NICs in the Public Cloud |
Network Heresy |
2013 |
|
Openstack |
2015 |
Building a Secure Multi-tenant Cloud for SaaS Applications (video) |
PayPal |
2015 |
|
VMWare and International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) |
2014 |
|
Yahoo! |
2012 |
SDN in Warehouse Scale Datacenters v2.0 (video available here) |
- Commercial providers.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Affirmed Networks (a Microsoft company) |
2018 |
|
DataYard |
2014 |
Building Mission Critical Cloud Infrastructure: Lessons Learned At Scale |
Deloitte Development LLC. |
2015 |
|
Ericsson |
2014 |
|
Nicira Networks |
2012 |
|
Cisco, NetApp, & Red Hat |
2014 |
|
HP, Intel, & WindRiver |
2013 |
|
Metaswitch Networks (A Microsoft company) |
2016 |
|
Packet Design |
2015 |
|
Red Hat |
2016 |
Lessons Learned from a Large-Scale Telco OSP+SDN Deployment (video available here, CI means "continuous integration")) |
|
2017 |
|
Sandvine |
2015 |
From hardware to NFV: lessons learned in deploying an OpenStack reference at scale (video) |
- Groups.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) |
2013 |
Operational Opportunities and Challenges of SDN/NFV Programmable Infrastructure © 2013 by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) |
2017 |
Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization |
|
2018 |
Cloud Migrations – Lessons Learned (cloud migration case studies from 11 representative Federal government agencies) |
Cloudify.co |
2018 |
|
Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) Association (GSMA) |
2020 |
|
ICSI and UC Berkeley |
2012 |
|
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Future Directions Committee (FDC) |
2014 |
|
|
2014 |
A Survey of Software-Defined Networking: Past, Present, and Future of Programmable Networks |
Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) |
2014 |
Carrier Ethernet and SDN |
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specifications Group (ISG) |
2015 |
|
Open Data Center Alliance, Inc. (ODCA) |
2013 |
ODCA Master Usage Model: Software-Defined Networking Rev. 1.0 © 2013 Open Data Center Alliance, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
Open Networking Foundation (ONF) |
2013 |
|
|
2013 |
Migration Use Cases and Methods (3 case studies: Google Inter-Datacenter WAN, NTT Provider Edge, and Stanford Campus Network) |
Optical Internetworking Forum |
2014 |
Additional materials may be available. See the Points of Contact article for links to websites of several open-source communities and standards development organizations.
- Websites, SMB, and individuals.
Source |
Date |
Title |
CIO.com, a subsidiary of IDG Enterprise |
2015 |
|
Shawn Ennis |
2017 |
|
Harvard Business Publishing |
2015 |
|
InformationWeek |
2011 |
|
Koybayashi, Seetharaman, et al |
2013 |
Maturing of OpenFlow and Software-defined Networking through deployments |
Latin School of Chicago |
2010 |
Lessons Learned about Consolidation, Virtualization and Disaster Recovery |
Levin, Canini, Schmid, et al |
2013 |
Incremental SDN Deployment in Enterprise Networks (video available here) |
Lin & Hart |
2013 |
|
|
2014 |
|
Mishra & Dasari |
2014 |
GENI Deployment and Research at US Army Research Laboratory (NOTE: Registration required) |
Sagar Nagare |
2018 |
Evaluating Container Based VNF Deployment For Cloud Native NFV |
Naqvi |
2015 |
Technical and Non-Technical lessons learned from SDN Implementations |
Packet Pushers |
2015 |
Software Defined WAN – Night of Nerdery – Live From New York (podcast featuring Bloomberg, Gap, and Visa panel members) |
|
|
SDN: What Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Need to Know in 2015 |
Prayson Pate |
2013-2021 |
A series of articles on LinkedIn i about aspects of NFV and SDN |
Pepelnjak |
2015 |
|
SDxCentral |
2016 |
4 Lessons the Telecom Industry Should Learn From the Enterprise |
|
on-going |
SDN Webinars – a series of webinars on current industry deployments of SDN |
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center |
2014 |
SDN meets the real-world: implementation benefits and challenges (used by permission) |
- Training Resources.
Source |
Date |
Title |
Acadia Technology Group |
2018 |
|
Donovan & Prabhu |
2017 |
|
Goransson & Black |
2014 |
|
Matt Oswalt blog |
2014-2015 |
SDN Protocols in 5 parts: |
|
2015 |
|
Mininet – GitHub |
2015 |
|
Mininet – SIGCOMM |
2014 |
|
Nadeau & Gray |
2013 |
SDN: Software Defined Networks. An Authoritative Review of Network Programmability Technologies (book) |
NS-3 Network Simulator |
on-going |
|
ONF |
2014 |
Migration Use Cases and Methods (guidelines, methods and recommendations to migrate network services from a traditional network to SDN) |
TechTarget.com |
2015 |
|
|
2015 |
SDN starter kits remove some do-it-yourself aspects of an SDN deployment |
Tittel (Tom's IT Pro) |
2017 |
Best Free Software Defined Networking (SDN) Training and Materials |
- Testing Resources.
Source |
Date |
Title |
BISmark – Georgia Tech |
2011 |
|
BISmark – Project BISmark |
2014 |
|
Canini, Enzano, et al |
2012 |
|
Hongyi |
2014 |
|
Kurshid, Zou, Zhou, et al |
2013 |
|
Microsoft |
2022 |
Troubleshoot the Windows Server Software Defined Networking Stack |
ONF |
on-going |
|
SDN Testing |
2015 |
blog of various open-source and commercial SDN controller test results |
University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) |
ongoing |
SDN Test Plans: Certification, Conformance, Interoperability |
|
ongoing |
Additional materials may be available from commercial testing service and equipment providers and open-source testing software developers on their respective websites. A partial list includes Accedian Networks, European Advanced Networking Test Center AG, Keysight Technologies, Paragon Active Assurance, Spirent Communications plc, UNH-IOL and Vivai Solutions, Inc.
Other listings of open-source testing software developers are available in the Points of Contact article, here and in Table 1 of this paper.