UNH-IOL launches SDN interoperability consortium

The University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Lab launched a consortium focused on testing elements and applications in software-defined networks.
UNH-IOL is set to support SDN interoperability testing between controllers and switches, conformance and performance testing when the consortium officially opens on Aug. 1. The testing group recently moved into a 28,000-square-foot space and already has an extensive SDN switch testbed including OpenFlow, NetConf, RestConf and others. UNH-IOL said that at this stage in SDN market development, stakeholders from controller and switch vendors to data centers, app vendors and service providers all need the ability to assess an SDN controllers “adherence to industry standards and expectations, the number of connections it can support, and its speed and functionality.” The testbed is said to support both direct and remote access for testing.
Timothy Winters, senior executive for software and IP networking at UNH-IOL, said during a press event that as networks become more software-centric to meet agility demands, multivendor SDN requires careful attention to interoperability between network elements.
“One vendor ruling your whole network is not realistic and probably not possible,” Winters said.
Interoperability testing is set to be available immediately, and conformance and benchmarking scheduled to be available on request. Winters said UNH-IOL will be working with Spirent Communications and Ixia for developing performance test solutions at scale, both to create test cases as well as relying on the companies’ equipment.
The annual fee for consortium members will be $20,000, and pay-per-test options are available as well. The annual fee, Winters noted, is less than the cost of some of the switches members will be able to access – a particularly important point for SDN application development companies that can’t afford to maintain a testbed. App development companies will be able to have UNH-IOL create test cases or test plans to verify that apps work in multivendor SDN environments. UNH-IOL hosted an Open Networking Foundation application testing event in May; the new facility has more than 4,000 square feet of prewired space dedicated to “plugfests.” UNH-IOL is already home to many consortia and the new SDN Consortium hopes to gain between five and 15 members in its first year.
The test facility is not supported by tuition dollars from the university, Winters said, but does provide hands-on opportunities for student engineers to support test processes and learn how to work in an SDN environment. Winters said the goal of UNH-IOL’s testing will be to ensure the majority of service providers’ needs for interoperability assurance, leaving operators the ability to focus on more specific tests for their network in-house. “They don’t have to worry about controllers and switches talking to each other – they can worry about higher-level stuff,” he added.
Winters said he expects to see lead times of between four and six weeks, with around two weeks of actual testing. While Winters said it makes sense for the IOL to have plugfests, he noted many companies want year-round availability of an SDN testbed in order to meet their own development timelines. In addition, Winters noted, when it comes to SDN environments, “this is not going to be about testing once and you’re done. This is going to be an evolution over time.”