On Standards for Application Level Interfaces in SDN

Abstract

In this paper, authors discuss application level interfaces for Software Defined Networks. While the Application Programming Interfaces for the interaction with the hardware are widely described in Software Defined Networks, the software interfaces for applications received far less attention. However, it is obvious that interfaces to software applications are very important. Actually, application level interfaces should be one of the main elements in Software Defined Networks. It is a core feature. In this article, we want to discuss the issues of standardization of software interfaces for applications in Software Defined Networks area. Nowadays, there are several examples of unified Application Program Interfaces in the telecommunications area. Is it possible to reuse this experience for Software Defined Networks or Software Defined Networks standards are radically different? This is the main question discussed in this paper.