ONF Appoints Huawei’s Serge Manning to Head Wireless and Mobile WG

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) has appointed Dr. Serge Manning, senior manager for corporate standards at Huawei, as the chairperson of the ONF Wireless and Mobile Working Group.

The recently formed Working Group was created to collect use cases and determine architectural and protocol requirements for extending OpenFlow-based technologies to wireless and mobile domains. The goal is to propose common ground architectural frameworks that will encompass different elements of OpenFlow-based or OpenFlow-oriented wireless and mobile network domains. Already the group has created three projects, related to the mobile packet core, wireless backhaul, and integrated fixed/wireless operation in the enterprise.

“Serge brings decades of telecommunications experience to his position as chair of our Wireless and Mobile Working Group,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “His expertise and the work of this new Group will be important as we more deeply engage with wireless and mobile operators around the globe. With the exponential growth of mobile data, there is an inherent need to simultaneously operate over multiple wireless technologies. By studying the open SDN requirements of wireless and mobile networks, OpenFlow and related ONF endeavors can be enhanced to bring even greater benefit to this space.”

“I look forward to working closely with other technical Working Groups within ONF to expand carrier and operator knowledge of the benefits of SDN for their networks,” said Dr. Manning. “Standards such as OpenFlow are highly applicable to wireless and mobile networks, even though there has not been a wide exploration of the specific needs and requirements of these networks to date. That is why we were created.”

http://www.opennetworking.org