Copyright (c) 2008-2016
NES Repo <nes.repo@gmail.com>, NES Dev <nes.open.switch@gmail.com>
NES Open Switch is a network protocol stack implementation. It functions as a common control and management plane for transport networks. Still this implementation is basically a bundle of modules which can be re-organized to cater other classes of networks as well (e.g. enterprise or access networks), but that is not in the scope of NES Open Switch.
The primary scope of NES Open Switch is the development of a protocol stack for research and educational purposes. Industry standard protocols are bundled in NES Open Switch, which can be extended for future development of these technologies, so that new extensions can be rapidly prototyped. Only protocols standardized by industry standard bodies (ISO, ITU-T, IETF) or recognized by industry associations (MEF) are implemented in NES Open Switch. Proprietary extensions of the protocols are not the target for NES Open Switch. Usage of this implementation in a production environment or it's profitability are not the immediate focus of NES Open Switch.
NES Open Switch is capable of handling current network technologies like Ethernet, SDH/Sonet, OTN and WDM. Some of these supporting modules are under development. NES Open Switch provides static network management facility for these technologies. NES Open Switch also supports the dynamic management of the network through GMPLS.
NES Open Switch is built independent of the underlying network hardware. The hardware interfacing is done through an hardware abstraction layer (HAL). The HAL layer can be ported for different hardware platforms and that shall be enough for controlling the prticular network hardware platform with NES Open Switch. NES Open Switch is compatible with chassis or pizza-box type of network devices.
NES Open Switch is always under continuous development cycle. Modules are continuously getting developed and added to NES Open Switch. The author provides routine bug fixes and updates. But others are also welcome in collabrating or contributing in the development.
You can find the steps to install NES Open Switch in the INSTALL file. The list of authors & contributors can be found in AUTHORS file.