Virtual Office Resource

Ribbon Communications Inc. is the newest member of The Linux Foundation (News - Alert) and the Linux Foundation Networking Fund. The company, which describes itself as a secure and intelligent cloud communications company, has Silver Member status.

CTO Kevin Riley (News - Alert) says Ribbon’s new membership in the Linux Foundation and LFN reinforce its commitment to open source and virtualized software. These technologies, he adds, can help Ribbon Communications customers differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

The company will be part of such Linux Foundation efforts as ONAP, OpenDaylight, and OPNFV.

ONAP is working on an automation and orchestration platform for service providers. The Open Network Automation Platform effort last year became part of The Linux Foundation.

And ONAP itself was created by the merger of ECOMP and the Open Orchestrator Project, or OPEN-O. ONAP founding members include AT&T, Amdocs (News - Alert), Bell Canada, Cisco, China Telecom, China Mobile, Ericsson, GigaSpaces, Huawei (News - Alert), IBM, Intel, Nokia, Orange, VMware, Tech Mahindra, and ZTE.

OpenDaylight is an open source software-defined networking controller designed to automate and simplify network management. Brocade, ConteXtream, Ericsson, IBM, Inocybe, NEC (News - Alert), Radware, and Qosmos are among those that have been involved in this effort.

And OPNFV, or Open Platform for NFV, works on creating a reference platform to accelerate the move by enterprise and service provider networks to network functions virtualization. Earlier this month, the OPNFV Project announced the availability of the OPNFV Verified Program.

“We are breaking new ground by leveraging open source platforms to measure compliance of commercial products,” said Heather Kirksey, Vice President of Community and Ecosystem Development for The Linux Foundation. “This is a huge step for the industry, and speaks to the power of open, community-driven solutions to help the ecosystem in real-world deployments.”