Frank Brockners
Distinguished Engineer
Chief Technology and Architecture Office
Articles
OPNFV: Systems integration for NFV as a community effort
Can OPNFV (Open Platform for Network Function Virtualization) become the base infrastructure layer for running virtual network functions, much like Linux is the base operating system for a large number of network devices? The first step has been taken: “Arno” – the first release of the OPNFV project…
Verify my service chain!
How do you prove that all traffic that is supposed to go through the service chain you specified actually made it through the service chain? This blog was written by Frank Brockners, Sashank Dara, and Shwetha Bhandari. Service function chaining is used in many networks today. The evolution towards N…
What if you had a trip-recorder for all your traffic at line rate performance?
The case for “In-band OAM for IPv6”: Operating and validating your network just got easier How many times have you wanted to gain a full insight into the precise paths packets take within your network whilst troubleshooting a problem or planning a change? Did you ever need to categorically prove t…
My App anywhere: On devices, on controller, on both!
Current differences in app development on devices and controllers disappear. Devices and controllers will share a common programming environment – offering a unified development and deployment experience. While SDN is moving from concept to reality, we notice that many deployments which focus on cre…
Programmability and SDN are not the same
Network programmability means democracy, means freedom, freedom to program across all layers and entities, software or hardware – depending on your needs. Is SDN required to have network programmability? Not at all. Does the SDN architecture leverage network programmability? Yes, of course. So, why…
What is a “Controller”? And how many do we need?
Thanks to SDN, the “Controller” word pops up in many network architecture discussions these days. In networking alone, we’re already surrounded by many “controllers” and we’re busy introducing more as we speak: For example, Session Border Controllers or Wireless LAN Controllers have been around for…
Infrastructure Software: SDN makes network management a first class citizen
Back in May 2012 Mike Fratto predicted in his blog that SDN will be “Reborn in Network Management”. There is a lot of truth to his statement. The words “software defined” in “Software Defined Networking (SDN)” inspired people to rethink the overall control plane architecture of the network making th…