ONF continues expansion of the global SDN community with a number of upcoming industry events.
It’s only February, and I can already see that it’s going to be another busy international year for ONF. We’re on the move with a great schedule of worldwide industry events. While each event has a different focus, all of them have one thing in common – bringing SDN thought leaders and advocates together.
2014 was an exciting year for the organization, with ONF participation in 40 events across the globe. The schedule included the first (and very successful) SDN Community Building Symposium – OpenTech Ireland – as well as our first SDN Solutions Showcase at the SDN & OpenFlow® World Congress in Dusseldorf, Germany. We enjoyed every event we participated in, and we are looking forward to 2015 being an equally fruitful, if not more fruitful, year
As we work our way through the calendar this year, we already have a number of stops to make – many in our own backyard. We begin with Light Reading’s New IP event in San Jose on February 19. Marc Cohn of Ciena will discuss the advantages and challenges of joining telecom and open source. With IP networks rapidly changing, network architects and CTOs from around the world will come together to discuss what is needed to create a promising and profitable strategy.
Following the New IP event, I will be headed to Barcelona to speak for the first time at the Mobile World Congress, taking place March 2-5. Over the course of four days, more than 1,900 exhibitors from over 220 countries will convene at one of the largest mobile events in the world. From connected cars to wearable devices, to SDN and NFV, this event is a great opportunity to explore technology trends that will help shape the future in mobile.
Last month, we visited Bangalore, India, for our second SDN Community Building Symposium to encourage others to build locally and think globally. On April 26, we are headed to Israel for our third event of the series. These events aim to develop a strong SDN community, continue advancing SDN education worldwide, and teach others about potential global opportunities.
We are looking forward to co-hosting back-to-back Layer123 events in May, starting with the NFV World Congress in San Jose from May 5-7. At this event we will be joined by activists, carriers, and operators who are looking to capitalize on the momentum that comes with NFV. Just three weeks after we wrap up at NFV World Congress, we will head to the third installment of the SDN & OpenFlow® Asia-Pacific Congress from May 26-28 in Singapore. The APAC region has demonstrated continuous momentum in SDN, and this event is poised to help speed up innovations and SDN implementation.
As summer hits, we will be headed to the windy city of Chicago for our second Light Reading event of the year: the Big Telecom Event, taking place from June 9-10. Kicking off our second participating year, ONF will host a half-day workshop on June 8. With a showroom floor three times the size as last year’s and more than 3,000 attendees, the event will bring together service providers who are looking to upgrade their networks.
Following Chicago we are headed back to California for the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara on June 14-18, where we will host our next SDN Solutions Showcase. In its fifth year, ONS is a pioneering SDN conference, bringing enthusiasts together to discuss industry news and cutting-edge technological innovations. Our Solutions Showcase will be an opportunity for organizations to collaborate in order to advance SDN and NFV adoption while demonstrating their real-world, game-changing solutions.
Believe it or not, this only covers some of the activities we have planned for the first half of this year. Looking ahead, we will continue to accelerate the adoption of open SDN through even more events across the globe. We hope you’ll join us in our globetrotting!
- Dan Pitt, Executive Director
