Allied Telesis Once Again Paves a Path for the Future of SDN at Faucet Conference 2019

Allied Telesis recently joined the Faucet Conference 2019 along with many other major network vendors, boasting excellent results. Faucet is an open-source, multi-table controller designed for enterprise-grade networks.

Before the Faucet Conference was the Faucet PlugFest where Faucet compatible vendors gathered to test the interoperability of Faucet in a multi-vendor, single root Faucet stack network. This year, one of our most popular AlliedWare Plus switches, the x930 Series OpenFlow-enabled switch, was selected to be the root of the Faucet stack, smoothly taking on the responsibility for routing all L2 and L3 traffic between the edge switches. End devices accessing the network included the Commodore 64, an 8-bit home computer from 1982. Allied Telesis also shined by bringing OpenFlow wireless capabilities into this multi-vendor network. The Allied Telesis OpenFlow-enabled TQ5403 wireless access point, connected via our POE-enabled x930 switch, joined this fully OpenFlow controlled network, providing wireless access to all attendee devices.

During the Faucet Conference, engineers from many notable organizations pitched their work and experience with Faucet, most of whom are currently using or have expressed heavy interest in Allied Telesis hardware in their respective projects. Kicking off the first talk at the Faucet Conference was Timothy Toole from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), a US government lab managed and operated by NTESS under DOE contract. Tim presented his deployment at SNL, which uses an Allied Telesis x950 series OpenFlow-enabled 100G switch, as well as switches from some other vendors, allowing him to create a multi-vendor deployment. During the presentation, Tim stated, “The Allied Telesis hardware has been rock solid!”

Allied Telesis products were also brought up at the conference in various other talks, including Charlie Lewis, Prototype Lead at IQT Labs, bring an OpenFlow-enabled x230 Series switch for a live demo with Poseidon, a cybersecurity application that applies AI and machine learning to SDN networks.

For the first time, engineers at Allied Telesis also presented at the conference, giving back to the Faucet open source community by sharing our own experiences with Faucet. This included a Multi-root Faucet Stack deployment running within Allied Telesis’s corporate network, using our state of the art OpenFlow switches such as the x950 and the x930 series, as well as the TQ5403, a fully OpenFlow capable Wireless Access Point.

Allied Telesis plans to continue this ongoing research and contribute to the Faucet development community further through the expansion of the Faucet corporate network.