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DENT

Jan 09
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DENT and Algebra University’s Open Source Hackathon Recap

By Announcements, Blog, Community News

On December 14, 2024, DENT, in partnership with Algebra University, successfully hosted the Linux Foundation’s first open source hackathon in Croatia. This milestone event brought together bright minds from student and professional communities, providing a platform to tackle real-world challenges in network configuration and management. DENT’s members made the hackathon possible with invaluable support from Sartura and PLVision.

Held at the Algebra Spark Event Space in Zagreb, the hackathon ran all day Saturday, creating a vibrant environment of collaboration, innovation and hands-on learning. With a prize fund of €3,000, the event drew participation from students and professionals eager to push the boundaries of network technology.

Participants formed teams of up to three members, tackling complex challenges in areas like:

  • Cloud system management
  • Remote packet capture
  • Telemetry improvement

Mentors and jurors from the following organizations played a crucial role in guiding and evaluating the participants. These included:

  • Leonid Khedyk (PLVision)
  • Bruno Banelli (Sartura & Algebra University)
  • Vedran Dakić (Algebra University)
  • Andrei Zvonimir Crnković & Svebor Prstačić (DORS/CLUC)

The competition was fierce, with participants showcasing impressive technical skills and innovative solutions. The winners were:

First Place (€2,000 prize):
Pia Maria Bregant (SigmaBit)

Second Place (€1,000 prize):
Erik Štrumberger and Team CodeOne

In addition to the top two teams, several other teams demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill:

  • SigmaByte
  • UnresolvedConflict
  • Studentice
  • Technoserv
  • CodeBros
  • !SMART

We celebrate all the participants for their hard work, creativity and collaborative spirit.

This event marked a significant step forward for open source collaboration in Croatia. By partnering with Algebra University, DENT helped create an opportunity for the local tech community to engage with cutting-edge open source technologies and contribute to the development of next-generation network solutions.

Acknowledgments:

DENT extends its heartfelt gratitude to its members Sartura and PLVision for their crucial support in making this event possible. Special thanks also go to the mentors and jurors for their time, expertise and encouragement.

This hackathon would not have been a success without the enthusiasm and participation of the talented teams who came together to innovate and collaborate.

What’s next?

Stay tuned for future announcements and opportunities to engage with the DENT project. Together, we can shape the future of network operating systems!

Nov 27
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DENT and Algebra University’s Open Source Hackathon

By Announcements, Blog

DENT is proud to partner with Algebra University to host the Linux Foundation’s first-ever open source Hackathon in Zagreb. On December 14, students and IT professionals alike will gather to tackle real-world challenges in configuration and management of network operating systems network configuration and management. 

What you need to know:

Date: Saturday, December 14, 2024

Time: 8:00–20:00 CET

Where: Algebra Spark Event Space, Zagreb

Who: Up to 30 students and IT professionals

We encourage all interested parties to apply as soon as possible to secure one of the 3 available slots. Delve into advanced network solutions and compete for significant prizes! DENT is staking a 3,000 EUR prize pool. The first-place team will earn 2,000 EUR and the second-place finisher will receive 1,000 EUR.

Seize the opportunity to collaborate with top industry experts and build solutions for remote management, custom CLI, Ansible Collection, configuration resilience, telemetry integration, etc. 

Throughout the hackathon, you’ll collaborate with top industry experts and benefit from mentorship by:

  • Zlatan Morić – Head of the Cybersecurity program at Algebra University
  • Vedran Dakić – Lecturer at Algebra University
  • Bruno Banelli – Emerging Technologies Architect, Sartura & Lecturer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing
  • Leonid Khedyk — CTO, PLVision

Participants will work in teams of up to three members to solve cloud system management, remote packet capture and telemetry configuration challenges. Solutions developed can have a lasting impact on the way networks are managed and monitored.

Why apply?

Our Hackathon offers more than a chance to win prizes. Participants will gain hands-on experience with DENT’s open source technologies, sharpening their Linux Switchdev skills. By competing, become part of a growing movement to transition to disaggregated networks that are efficient, reliable and scalable. 

Our expert panel provides a unique networking opportunity.

We can’t wait to see the solutions and ideas our community will bring to the table. See you in Zagreb on December 14, 2024!

Oct 30
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Event Summary: DENT at OCP Global Summit 2024

By Announcements, Blog

DENT was honored to participate as an open source partner of OCP Global Summit 2024, held in San Jose, CA from October 15–17. DENT hosted a booth surrounded by vibrant open source community members and had important conversations about how DentOS is evolving the future of retail edge networking. For instance, DENT discussed its ongoing development of a ready-to-deploy PoC product for retail-edge scenarios, which will meet the requirements of its end-users.

DENT’s onsite presence included project staff and expert representatives from premier members Amazon and Edgecore Networks. Key contributors from member organizations PLVision and Keysight Technologies also attended and engaged with the community. 

DENT seized the opportunity to showcase its vendor-ready network operating system (NOS) to a massive audience excited to discuss DENT’s capabilities. Additionally, DENT highlighted its transformative power for the retail industry to a DENT while educating attendees on its mission to provide a lightweight, low-cost, Linux-based NOS capable of running on a wide range of devices, ranging from embedded devices to direct current (DC) switches.

DENT also focused on virtualization with the SAI virtual switch in DentOS, illustrating how DENT enables streamlined development and testing without the need for physical hardware. This solution is leading the way for more flexibility and efficiency in networking, permitting developers and enterprises to simulate complex environments in a reliable, virtualized space.

OCP Global Summit 2024 brought together over 7,000 professionals from around the world, offering a powerful platform for industry leaders, engineers and open source advocates to explore the latest in scalable, sustainable and efficient compute solutions. The event was packed with workshops, panels and sessions highlighting the transformative potential of open infrastructure in powering the future of technology.  Attendees represented nearly 1,400 organizations from 46 countries. 

The 2024 summit offered valuable insights and meaningful connections as DENT works toward its shared mission of advancing open source networking solutions and providing solutions for end users.

Future Events:

DENT will attend NRF Big Show 2025 in New York City, NY from January 12–14, 2025. DENT is grateful for the OCP community and looks forward to attending the 2025 OCP EMEA Summit in Lisbon from April 24–25, 2025.

What’s Next for DENT?

DENT 4.0 and beyond is focused on expanding DENT’s enterprise capabilities. The upcoming DENT 4.0 release will introduce key features like multicast routing, PoE kernel integration, and support for open config. DENT will also transition to Debian 12, bringing enhanced performance and stability to its infrastructure. 

As we look ahead to DENT 4.0 and beyond, DENT continues to evolve, offering scalable, open solutions for end users.

Sep 19
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Event Summary: DENT at DORS/CLUC 2024

By Announcements, Blog

DENT at DORS/CLUC: Future-Proofing Networking with Open Source Solutions

DENT had the opportunity to serve as a Silver Sponsor of DORS/CLUC 2024, Croatia’s largest and longest-running open source conference, first held in 1994. This marked a milestone as the first time a Linux Foundation project was showcased in this region of Europe! The event was held on May 16–17, 2024.

Bruno Banelli of DENT member Sartura proudly represented DENT. Bruno’s presentation, “Open Source Networking — Future Proofing Traditional Networking Stack” provided a comprehensive overview of both DENT and The Linux Foundation while explaining how open source technologies can future-proof networking infrastructures. 

DENT’s sponsorship highlighted the growing influence of open source networking in transforming traditional systems. 

DORS/CLUC, which stands for Dani otvorenih računarskih sustava / Croatian Linux Users’ Conference, has been a premier event in the free and open source software (FOSS) community for nearly 30 years. DORS/CLUC has earned the reputation of bringing together a diverse crowd, from students and developers to corporate representatives and government agencies. The two-day event offered a mix of keynotes, talks, and workshops on free software, open standards, and Linux-based solutions. 

DENT’s presence underscored the importance of collaboration across organizations of all sizes. Bruno emphasized the value of The Linux Foundation, which serves as the bridge connecting organizations of all shapes and sizes committed to shared goals driven by shared passion. Bruno then dove into an overview of DENT to a previously unfamiliar audience, explaining DENT exists to address long-standing challenges in traditional networking. 

Key Takeaways from Bruno’s Presentation:

In his session, Bruno provided an in-depth look at DENT and its role in reshaping networking through open source collaboration. Key learnings from his session include…

  • Addressing Traditional Networking Challenges: Bruno highlighted the limitations of traditional networking systems which are often closed due to the dominance of system-on-chip (SoC) vendors. DENT’s approach disaggregates hardware and software, offering vendor-agnostic flexibility and openness. 
  • The Linux Foundation’s Role: He emphasized the value of the Linux Foundation in guiding open source projects like DENT, helping them overcome vendor lock-in and driving community-driven innovation.
  • Real-World Use Case: Amazon’s Retail Stores: Bruno emphasized Amazon’s deployment of “Just Walk Out” technology in its stores as an example of DENT’s scalability and cost-effectiveness in retail.

Watch Bruno’s entire DORS/CLUC presentation on YouTube:

What’s Next for DENT?

DENT 4.0 and beyond is focused on expanding DENT’s enterprise capabilities. The upcoming DENT 4.0 release will introduce key features like multicast routing, PoE kernel integration, and support for open config. DENT will also transition to Debian 12, bringing enhanced performance and stability to its infrastructure. 

As we look ahead to DENT 4.0 and beyond, DENT continues to evolve, offering scalable, open solutions for end users.

Sep 17
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Event Summary: DENT at KubeCon + Cloud Native Con + Open Source Summit + AI_dev 2024

By Announcements, Blog

DENT recently served as a Silver Sponsor of Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s (CNCF) flagship event, KubeCon + Cloud Native Con + Open Source Summit + AI_dev 2024, held in Hong Kong. This was a unique opportunity for the DENT community to engage with some of the brightest minds and leading technologists in the open source and cloud native ecosystem. KubeCon is a nexus for open source developers, AI/ML specialists, and community leaders to collaborate and exchange ideas that will shape the future of open source technologies. 

DENT’s onsite presence included project staff and expert representatives from Edgecore Networks and Keysight Technologies. DENT joined the diverse open source ecosystem as an exhibitor, engaging with the community and offering switch demonstrations, courtesy of Edgecore Networks.

Attendees were able to explore DENT’s mission and the exciting technological advancements we’re spearheading. DENT is grateful for the opportunity to showcase its vendor-ready NOS offerings to a primarily Asia Pacific demographic that may have been unfamiliar with DENT and our mission. DENT cherishes any opportunity to demonstrate the value of disaggregated enterprise networks and share a glimpse into the future of DENT 4.0. 

The team also highlighted the innovative use of virtualization with the SAI virtual switch in DentOS, proving how DENT enables streamlined development and testing without the need for physical hardware. This solution is paving the way for enhanced flexibility and efficiency in networking, allowing developers and enterprises to simulate complex environments in a virtualized space.

What’s Next?

As we reflect on KubeCon 2024, we are excited to advance our work fostering collaboration across diverse sectors. DENT’s participation in this event reaffirms our commitment to driving the future of open networking and empowering developers and enterprises alike with cutting-edge solutions.

Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to check out our upcoming events. OCP Global + NRF Big Show: https://dent.dev/event/ 

Jul 25
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DENT Member Spotlight: Keysight Technologies

By Blog, Community News

This is the third blog in a series of posts highlighting members of the DENT Project. We continue with a spotlight on Keysight Technologies, as explained by Dean Lee, Senior Director of the Cloud Industry Solution Team at Keysight.

Please tell us a little about your organization:

We are the Network Test Solutions group within the Keysight organization. Our team builds Ethernet traffic generators and protocol emulators for the networking industry to validate the LAN, WAN and data centers deployed in enterprises, service providers and hyperscalers around the globe.

Why is your organization adopting a Network Operating System (NOS)?

We believe that the open architecture and collaboration among end users, ASIC, switches and test equipment vendors could truly benefit the networking industry and accelerate innovations.

Why did you join DENT, and what impact do you think DENT has on Network Operating Systems?

DENT, as an open source community, fully leverages the wide adoption of Linux into networking operating systems. Keysight has been a proponent of Open NOS and Open Traffic Generator. DENT aligns with our core competency and beliefs.

What do you see as the top benefits of being part of the DENT community?

Keysight has great opportunities to work with industry leaders in network architecture, ASIC and switch designs. We can collaborate and enhance our test capabilities with the DENT community.

What sort of contributions has your team made (or plans to make) to the DENT community?

Keysight provides expertise and test equipment in validating data centers deployed with DENT NOS. We also manage and house the community test lab, which provides the test pipeline for DENT NOS CI/CD.

What sets DENT apart from other industry alliances?

DENT is flexible and also specializes in retail, enterprise and campus networking. It covers the area not serviced by SONiC. Since it is a true Linux-based NOS, the deployment and management can be easily handled just like a Linux server.

How will DENT help your business?

We can leverage the test cases contributed by community members and share them with more Keysight test solution users.

What advice would you give to someone considering joining DENT?

DENT is the NOS for any applications outside core data centers. It is easy to deploy and adopt. Keysight provides a community test lab to assist PoC and vendor validation as a service. The onboarding of new use cases is easy with community support.

Keysight DENT Representatives:

Dean Lee, Senior Director, Cloud Industry Solution Team

Manodipto Ghose, Product Manager 

Jul 18
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Linux Support for PoE Funded by DENT

By Blog, Community News, News

DENT has made significant strides in enhancing the upstream Linux Kernel to function as NoS without additional overheads for retail-edge use cases. A critical feature for these edge scenarios is Power over Ethernet (PoE). In this blog post, we will explore DENT’s contributions by examining past, present, and future PoE support in the upstream Linux Kernel.

Past Developments:

Previously, the Linux kernel offered no support for PoE technologies. Hardware vendors frequently provided non-universal, user-space solutions resulting in fragmented and inconsistent implementations. DENT recognized the need for evolution and began developing a standardized solution integrated within the Linux kernel.

In 2022, a major milestone was reached when a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) subsystem was added to the Linux kernel. However, this subsystem was only capable of supporting a related technology called Power over Data-Lines (PoDL). Learning and building from this achievement, DENT focused on implementing total PoE support.

Ongoing Developments:

DENT member Bootlin has spearheaded the development of DENT’s upstreaming efforts. Our initial goal was to bring basic PoE support, focusing on basic features like enabling and disabling power and achieving port status. This successful effort resulted in the development and upstreaming of drivers for two different PoE controllers: Microchip PD692x0 and TI TPS23881.

Bootlin’s Köry Maincent (Embedded Linux and Kernel Engineer) played a critical role in this development, spanning nine iterations from November 2023 to April 2024. The culmination of this work will be seen in the Linux 6.10 release, marking a significant achievement for DENT and the broader Linux community.

For more information on Maincent’s remarkable work, watch his presentation from Embedded Open Source Summit 2024.

Following the initial support, DENT immediately began working on the next set of features, including enhanced status information like consumed power, negotiated class and extended state reports, as well as the option to read and configure PoE port power limits. This work, developed through six iterations, has been merged and is set to be included in Linux 6.11.

What’s Next:

Looking ahead, DENT has ambitious plans for PoE. Next steps include:

  • Supporting port priority to manage power allocation when existing, available power is insufficient.
  • Implementing the PD62x0 persistent configuration mechanism for custom configurations across reboots.
  • Modifying the POED project to use the new standard Linux interface for PoE instead of user-space drivers.

DENT is committed to further enhancing PoE support within the Linux kernel. Stay tuned as DENT continues to build a brighter future for open source PoE.

For more information on Bootlin’s PoE work, read its recent PoE blog: https://bootlin.com/blog/power-over-ethernet-poe-support-into-the-official-linux-kernel/

Check out upcoming events where DENT will be present: https://dent.dev/event/

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