Harmonizing Open Source and Standards in the Telecom World

The networking industry is at a significant turning point as network operators spanning telecommunications, cable, enterprise, cloud, and the research community work to redefine the network architecture.

Widespread new technology adoption takes years to succeed, and requires close collaboration among those producing network technology and those consuming it. Traditionally, standards development organizations (SDOs) have played a critical role in offering a forum for discussion and debate, and well-established processes for systematically standardizing and verifying new technologies.

In a software driven world, it is infeasible to standardize a priori complex reference architectures and software platforms without a more iterative approach. As a result, industry has been increasingly turning to open source communities for implementation expertise and feedback.

Moving ahead, close coordination among the SDOs, industry groups, and open source projects is essential to better align individual organizations objectives, priorities, and plans. It is in the spirit of such harmonization that The Linux Foundation has released this white paper.

“Harmonizing Open Source and Standards in the Telecom World,” outlines the key concepts, and invites an unprecedented collaboration among the SDOs, open source projects, and industry groups that each play a vital role in the establishment of a sustainable ecosystem which is essential for success. Join us to usher in a new era of collaboration and convergence to reshape the future of networking.