The Open Networking Foundation has launched a new open-source project that aims to create a reference platform for generic networking gear known as “white boxes” to make them more easily programmable.

The project, called Stratum, will also support a new set of software-defined networking interfaces created by the group, which are designed to make the data plane more programmable.

Rising adoption of SDN and also network functions virtualization or NFV has provided a healthy boost to the success of white-box manufacturers in recent years. By separating the control plane, network operating system and networking tasks from the underlying hardware, organizations have been able to run software on unbranded switches and servers that cost significantly less than branded counterparts from companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc.

The shift has been especially beneficial for the biggest “hyperscale” cloud data center operators such as Google LLC and Facebook Inc. Those have been able to push ever-increasing amounts of traffic through their infrastructures while keeping costs under control even as demand increases by using cheaper white boxes from original design manufacturers.

Now, the ONF wants to increase the adoption of SDN, NFV and white boxes even more by making unbranded gear easier to use. That’s what the new Stratum project is all about.

“The network should be as easy to program as a server,” Nick McKeown, a professor at Stanford University and cofounder of ONF, said in a statement. “By lifting protocols out of hardware and into software, we will unleash a Cambrian explosion of innovation in networking, just as we have seen in compute.”

More specifically, the Stratum project aims to create an open-source reference platform that organizations can use to program their white box gear more easily. Stratum is designed to be used with both existing and upcoming hardware, the ONF said.

Google is one of the main contributors to the Stratum project, providing its initial source code, which is based on the software it uses to run its own hyperscale production network. “Google runs its network based on SDN control of a broad array of hardware switches managed through a well-defined specification for switch programming and control,” said Amin Vahdat, a Google Fellow and technical lead for networking at Google Cloud. “With Stratum, large companies have a new option for building smarter and more reliable networks.”

The second part of the project involves creating a new set of SDN interfaces based on the ONF’s OpenFlow protocol. OpenFlow was built as an industry standard that defines the communication protocol in SDN environments and enables the SDN Controller to interact directly with the forwarding plane of network devices such as switches and routers.

The new interfaces are designed to address important aspects of networking such as device configuration and operations, as well as pipeline definition and control. OpenFlow allows users to control the forwarding behavior of networks, and the new interfaces allow organizations to manage all aspects of the data plane, the ONF said.

Stratum is currently in the incubation phase, which means that only project participants can access the code at present. The project is expected to be made fully open-source and available under an Apache 2.0 license early next year.

Other founding members of the project include Tencent Holdings Ltd., China United Network Communications Group Co. Ltd., NTT Communications Co. Ltd., Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., VMware Inc., Big Switch Networks Inc. and Broadcom Corp., among others.

Image: dlohner/Pixabay