ADTRAN, a provider of open networking and subscriber experience solutions, recently announced it has joined the prpl Foundation, an open-source, community-driven, collaborative non-profit foundation that strives to enable the security and interoperability of embedded devices.
David La Cagnina, CTO, Subscriber Solutions & Experience ADTRAN, reportedly will now serve on the prpl Foundation Board of Directors. La Cagnina has been active in prpl through SmartRG, which ADTRAN acquired late last year. ADTRAN increased support for the foundation to further demonstrate commitment to driving the industry toward open, programmable, software-defined access infrastructures.
“We are thrilled to have David join us on the board of directors to share his leadership and knowledge as a leading designer and innovative technologist,” said Art Swift, president, prpl Foundation. “ADTRAN’s support for the security and interoperability of embedded devices through our standards-based approach will help us grow and strengthen our community.”
Founded in 2015, the prpl Foundation’s work is a combination of open-source projects and jointly-developed specifications. Whether chipset integration or containerization, collaboration is at the core of prpl’s mission. Internet service providers recognize prpl as the place to enable the next wave of innovation around customer premise equipment and value-added services. The foundation’s goal is to enable multi-chip and multi-vendor sourcing strategies throughout the industry.
Prior to ADTRAN’s acquisition, SmartRG had been working in this space for years with the SmartOS platform. Based on the open-source project OpenWrt, SmartOS adds numerous carrier-grade improvements and custom features and enables third-party applications. Several of these features have already been contributed to the prpl Foundation’s prplWRT project—an initiative to converge on an open-source software framework and reference implementation for carrier-grade Wi-Fi routers, extenders and home gateways.
“It’s an exciting time to be joining prpl’s board of directors as more attention is being focused on the need for silicon-agnostic solutions, broad interoperability and increased security standards within the larger access ecosystem,” La Cagnina said. “SmartRG has been a leader in driving the industry forward with this approach and philosophy. We look forward to continued collaboration with our peers and further advancing this important open-source mindset and mission as a part of ADTRAN.”
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
