| |
Please find some frequently asked questions below on the business case for OpenSAF.
How strong is the support for OpenSAF in the telecom ecosystem?
The support for OpenSAF is strong and growing. OpenSAF has grown steadily since its beginning in early 2008 and now has representation in several key sectors of the industry:
- Ericsson and Huawei are Foundation members
- Linux operating system vendors Wind River and MontaVista support OpenSAF
- Oracle is now a supporter of OpenSAF
- GoAhead Software offers a full-fledged commercial distribution of OpenSAF
- IP Infusion, Raima, Tail-f and other software vendors integrate with OpenSAF
- Ericsson, Motorola, and Rancore have deployed OpenSAF
What are the key advantages of implementing OpenSAF solutions?
OpenSAF follows the standardized specifications of the SA Forum, and so it can work with any hardware and a wide range of software, including any Linux distribution. This modular approach allows scaling across a wide range of applications. Additionally, OpenSAF has been certified on many major platforms and more will follow.
The advantage of an open source implementation, based on an open specification, is that it allows applications to be developed that can be ported across multiple systems, and more easily combined into a single platform where appropriate. Adoption of OpenSAF, therefore, enables a focus on applications, which is a major revenue generator.
For new systems, where little legacy code exists, it makes no economic sense to invest resources in developing a proprietary solution. The large telecom equipment manufacturers are all desperately trying to reduce the number of high availability middleware solutions they have, and the consequent resource load and cost, but the problem of selecting the appropriate solution to work across many applications is a challenge.
OpenSAF’s flexibility enables it to adapt to almost all application segments and there is an increasing knowledge base of how to rapidly port and adapt legacy applications to work in an OpenSAF environment. This makes OpenSAF an increasingly attractive choice for the next iteration of solutions.
OpenSAF is a broad and comprehensive HA framework. Do I need to implement/adopt the full set of services into my platform initially?
No, you do not. One of the key benefits of OpenSAF is that it is very modular. The services can be adopted either individually or in groups as needs and requirements dictate. In fact, one of the major thrusts with version 4.0 of OpenSAF was to increase modularity to simplify gradual adoption of the technology. This effort in 4.0 is paying off as many organizations are choosing to do just that.
One common adoption scenario is to start adapting a legacy application with a particular service, and then spread out the adoption as the application gets additional usage and the implementation matures.
How broad is the support and adoption for OpenSAF in general?
The recent growth in the breadth of support for OpenSAF has been one of the most rewarding developments for the OpenSAF community. Some of evidence demonstrating this breadth of support includes:
- More than 750 downloads of OpenSAF by non-members in the last 6 months
- Greater than 10,000 page views on the OpenSAF website in the month of May 2011
- Visits by 230 distinct organizations to the website in April 2011
- Growing contributions by more than 1,100 individuals
- 11 foundation members
- Successful industry events including Developer Days in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the 2011 OpenSAF Conference
- New 2011 European Symposium created based on popular demand
Is OpenSAF growing outside the telecom/wireless equipment market segment?
Yes, it is. In particular, evidence from our website analytics indicates growing interest in particular among Aerospace & Defense, medical device and transportation logistics companies. Aerospace & Defense in particular has shown activity in the last few months, and individuals from several of the large system integrators in the industry were enthusiastic participants at the recent 2011 OpenSAF Conference in May.
What will be the focus for OpenSAF for the balance of 2011?
At a product level, the OpenSAF project will be working on some focused enhancements for 2011 now that the major release of 4.0 is in the rear-view mirror. OpenSAF has already released version 4.1, and is now working on release 4.2. Specific capabilities around manageability and usability of the services and platform are the primary area of work in these releases based on direct feedback from the OpenSAF community.
How can challenges seen by equipment manufacturers be addressed by OpenSAF?
Equipment providers are moving from vertically integrated platforms to those based on standards. Standards at the hardware and OS layers have been proven and as a result, have been widely adopted. Now the focus is shifting to the high availability (HA) middleware layer. Industry innovators are adopting HA middleware such as OpenSAF and this means that they can ensure core availability and management requirements are met, while still being able to shift the focus up the stack to the applications – the key to differentiation and revenue.
How Does OpenSAF ensure a high level of service availability in applications?
OpenSAF is an implementation of Service Availability Forum (SA Forum) specifications. SA Forum open specifications abstract the service availability middleware from other components in the platform. These interfaces provide common connection points between the hardware platforms and customers’ applications, and high availability and management layers. This offers a standardized way to ensure continuous service of the system and applications.
|
|
| |
|
| |
