Many switch, router vendors have hand in OpenFlow specification

What standards are involved in the OpenFlow specification and what organizations are developing them?

Standards are essential for successful development and interoperability of the OpenFlow specification and related technologies. OpenFlow.org originally developed the protocol, and version 1.1 of the OpenFlow specification was released in February 2011. However, continued development of the protocol falls to the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), which also promotes the development of software-defined networking (SDN) and published version 1.2 in early 2012. The latest version of the standard, version 1.3.1, was released in September 2012.

The OpenFlow protocol allows IT to define how various types of network traffic should flow, depending on factors like usage patterns, applications and real-time changes in applications, users or network conditions -- a huge departure from the traditional closed and static network protocols.

A broad cross-section of major network switch and router vendors are members of the ONF and support OpenFlow, including Arista Networks, Broadcom, Brocade, Cisco, Citrix, F5, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, NEC, Rackspace, Tilera and many others.