First chance to witness OpenCloud Project in action

The CloudEthernet Forum (CEF) announced today it is inviting senior executives from major players throughout the globe in the Datacenter / Cloud arena, in order to showcase the CEF’s OpenCloud Project (OCP) and how it will accelerate the development of CloudE 1.0 – a new open standard for the cloud. This will take place during an “open day” at a major datacenter in Silicon Valley on Monday July 28th and be followed by a series of individually scheduled consultations with interested parties throughout the summer both on-line and in-person at the OCP Lab. Further progress on development of the CloudE 1.0 architecture will also form a major feature of the “Ethernet in action” showcase at the GEN14 conference in Washington DC from Nov 17 to 20.

“CloudE 1.0 is our first step on the path to the open cloud” says James Walker, President, CloudEthernet Forum (CEF). “In its first year the CEF has tackled complexity head on – integrating Carrier Ethernet with relatively uncharted technologies like SDN and NFV – to lay the foundation for the open cloud environment that business truly needs. We already have a great story – and this is our first chance to share it.”

Jeff Schmitz, CEF Chairman commented, “The open day includes an introduction to the CEF’s Cloud Reference Architecture and the launch of the CEF’s ‘Reference Test Bed’. This is a key part of the project’s open test and iterative standards development program, paving the way to a fully inter-working cloud environment, and the advancement of best practices to manage OTT and cloud services.”

According to Bob Mandeville, Iometrix president and OCP Lab co-chair. “Proof of concept is a short term process, whereas we are creating a permanent test platform that mirrors the CEF Reference Architecture and will evolve over time. We are not testing a single concept, but how the reference model responds to realistic use cases reflecting CEF members’ actual business needs”.

This program being launched on July 28th will include linking to the Reference Test Bed and long distance relocation or multiplication of VMs across the cloud. As Michael Tighe, executive director of data services, Comcast Business Services, explains: “The CEF is working at the leading edge, but firmly grounded in real business needs. For example, network automation and easier provisioning will be enabled by bringing all Ethernet service provisioning under one software orchestration discipline – I predict this will become an important facet of SDN in 2014 and beyond”.

Vinay Saxena, Distinguished Technologist, Chief Architect HP NFV, says: “The ability to manage NFV, and a mix of NFV and non-virtual devices is a part of the Communication Service Provider journey to the Cloud. The CEF initiative supports our interest in providing optimal solutions to the CSPs on that NFV and overall cloud transition. We look forward to the dialog.”