Software Defined Network vendors Pica8 and Vello Systems announced that their respective SDN operating systems are now interoperable via OpenFlow, the popular open SDN protocol.

Pica8's open switching operating system running on a 48x10GbE open switch with 40 GbE capability is now operable with the VellOS 7.0 operating system, the companies announced, following successful interoperability testing.

Karl May, Vello CEO, said part of OpenFlow's appeal was the ability for end users to mix and match equipment to lower costs and increase operational efficiency. “However, these IT managers and network operators need to know that this equipment will work seamlessly from the beginning,” he said.

“This achievement then represents a valuable step forward for our customers and the OpenFlow movement as a whole.”

OpenFlow has enabled Vello to unify optical, Ethernet and virtual forwarding planes under a common open software platform. With support of OpenFlow 1.3, Layer 2 and Layer 3 presence and the new relationship with Vello, Pica8 now offers customers more choices to leverage SDN technology, the companies said.

The supported solutions include continuous availability across data centers and enterprise data center applications. Interoperability also adds to each company's portfolio of OpenFlow-compatible switches and operating systems.

Based on a distributed Linux framework, VellOS 7.0 incorporates standards-based RESTful application provisioning interfaces and network policy and control implemented via a GUI to let customers mix and match OpenFlow-enabled network equipment regardless of the forwarding technology.

Pica8's operating system runs across its line of purpose-built open switches.