Open Networking Foundation Opens Membership to Include Startup Organizations

-- ONF Increases Innovation By Embracing SDN Startups

PALO ALTO, California, Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of open Software-Defined Networking (SDN), today announced a new, low-cost category of membership specifically for SDN startup organizations, helping them to become more actively involved in building the SDN ecosystem. Membership fees for startup organizations are reduced from $30,000 a year to $1,000 a year but there is no difference in membership privileges. The first wave of startups to join ONF includes Criterion Networks, Corsa Technology, GuardiCore, Konodrac, Tallac Networks, and Xinguard Inc. Additional startups are currently in the membership application phase and will become ONF members in the coming months.    

"ONF's dedication to the promotion and adoption of SDN through open architecture and standards development is one of the many reasons that ONF is embracing startups," said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. "We want to make participation in ONF activities possible for the full range of organizations. Encouraging the innovation that startups bring to the space will further propel the advancement of open SDN and adoption of the OpenFlow™ standard." 

Building on ONF's recent membership momentum in the Asia Pacific region, these six initial startup organizations further demonstrate increased global interest in the development of SDN. Located in Bangalore, India, Criterion Networks develops technology practices with service offerings around SDN network architecture and IPv6 network infrastructure transition. Continuing the global interest, Corsa Technology, headquartered in Canada, is a networking hardware company focused on delivering a programmable datapath for SDN. Corsa Technology's products solve forwarding problems that traverse the network from data center to desktop and from cloud to device.

GuardiCore, an Israel-based startup, is developing a network security solution, detecting and mitigating cyber-attacks inside corporate data centers. Based in Barcelona, Konodrac focuses its efforts on acceleration of intelligent and secure data transfer service for social media and machine-to-machine applications. Tallac Networks, from Rocklin, Calif., offers SDN for the Campus called Software-Defined Mobility, a new approach at enabling Wi-Fi operators to connect mobile users to the network services they demand. Rounding out the global interest, Xinguard Inc., from Taipei, Taiwan, specializes in the development of SDN solutions to construct scalable and proactive network infrastructures able to cope with changing networks.

To qualify for the ONF startup membership category, an organization must be within two years of its incorporation. For more information regarding ONF membership, please visit https://www.opennetworking.org/membership/membership-application. A full listing of ONF member companies can be accessed at https://www.opennetworking.org/membership/member-listing.

About ONF
Launched in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and Yahoo!, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is a growing nonprofit organization with more than 100 members whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of open SDN. ONF promotes open SDN and OpenFlow technologies and standards while fostering a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers, and users. For further details visit the ONF website at: http://www.opennetworking.org.

U.S. Media Contact:
Andi Bean
McGrath/Power Public Relations for ONF
+1-408-727-0351
[email protected]