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Programmable, Controllable Networks

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Abstract

We describe OpenFlow, a first step on the road to networks which are fully integrated into the IT infrastructure ecosystem. We review the history of OpenFlow, its precursors, its design and initial implementations. We discuss its use within the GENI project and the applications and services developers have built on the OpenFlow platform. Finally, we review the implementation issues with OpenFlow, and consider extensions and the next generation of Software-Defined Networking.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXsCQdshMr4.

  2. 2.

    Remark in a presentation given ca 1995, confirmed in a recent personal communication.

  3. 3.

    See, for example, http://lsmarr.calit2.net/multimedia?vid=VqAjLalPEmQ.

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Acknowledgements

We have been fortunate to enjoy the support of a number of brilliant colleagues and a vibrant ecosystem throughout the course of this project. Sujata Banerjee was instrumental in ensuring that many of the commercial and academic researchers who wanted to experiment with OpenFlow could do so on commercial switches. Charles Clark of HP Networking was the first person to suggest hybrid switching and using OpenFlow on specific VLANs. Nick McKeown and Guru Parulkar of Stanford were unfailingly supportive throughout this process. The legions of GENI users and experimenters provided invaluable feedback. The initiative of the campuses first involved in the initial OpenFlow trials was critical, and Nick Feamster, Jennifer Rexford, Russ Clark, and Ron Hutchins. were notably helpful.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Barnstormer Softworks Ltd. and University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Nicholas Bastin

  2. Chief Scientist, US Ignite, 1150, 18th St NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20036, USA

    Rick McGeer

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  1. Nicholas Bastin
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Correspondence to Nicholas Bastin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. US Ignite, Washington, DC, USA

    Rick McGeer

  2. GENI Project Office, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Mark Berman

  3. GENI Project Office, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Chip Elliott

  4. School of Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Robert Ricci

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Bastin, N., McGeer, R. (2016). Programmable, Controllable Networks. In: McGeer, R., Berman, M., Elliott, C., Ricci, R. (eds) The GENI Book. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33769-2_8

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