Spirent Introduces Support for OpenFlow 1.3 to Help Advance Testing of SDN Controllers and Switches

OpenFlow 1.3 adds support for IPv6, MPLS and other capabilities that improve the quality of service (QoS) of SDN implementations. At a recent ONF PlugFest at Indiana University’s InCNTRE SDN Interoperability Lab, Spirent joined other industry leaders in validating OpenFlow support. This semi-annual event is designed to drive interoperability, deployment and commercialization of SDN and the OpenFlow protocol.

Spirent provides InCNTRE with an excellent platform to validate and assess the readiness of vendor SDN implementations from around the world,” said Ronald Milford, InCNTRE’s SDN Lab Manager. “InCNTRE is the world's leading research center seeking to advance the development, knowledge and adoption of OpenFlow and SDN technologies. We are continuing to derive value from Spirent iTest and Spirent TestCenter for testing the latest versions of OpenFlow.

Spirent TestCenter enables network operators and vendors to measure performance, availability, security and scalability of OpenFlow network devices and end-to-end SDN applications by defining millions of flows and exercising them with traffic patterns and behavior. When combined with the joint Spirent and InCNTRE OFTest conformance test suites via the Spirent iTest automation platform, customers are able to improve product quality while expanding test coverage, reducing time-to-test and lowering costs through collaboration across groups and sites.

“We are pleased to continue our support of OpenFlow with this latest update,” said Rajesh Rajamani, senior product marketing manager at Spirent. “Spirent TestCenter meets the needs of a variety of environments and is available in both hardware and virtual versions to meet our customer needs. It’s simple to use and can scale up so that customers can truly replicate any production loads.”