Raymie Stata, the former chief technology officer at Yahoo, says that a massive computer network is kinda like the old 15-puzzle game, that brain-teaser where you’re trying to rearrange 15 sliding tiles inside a square with space for only 16. If you decide to change the way your network operates, he says, there are cases where you have no choice but to physically rearrange your hardware.

The trouble is that networking gear is still stuck in the computing dark ages. We can program our desktop computers and our smartphones and our servers, creating all sorts of new software that does almost whatever we want it to do, but there’s no App Store for networking switches and routers.

And that’s no small problem. These are the machines that tie everything together inside the mammoth data centers that drive the internet and the world’s big businesses. Built by tech giants like Cisco and Juniper and HP, this networking hardware is typically operated with archaic software that does only what the Ciscos and the Junipers and the HPs have designed it to do. If you want your Cisco switch to do something new, you may have wait for Cisco to build a new one. And even if you can solve the problem on your own, this may involve actually finding your switch — deep inside a data center — and making the necessary changes by hand.

— Matthew Palmer ‘With mobile and social and cloud computing, networks are growing to unprecedented sizes — and we’ve been forced to find new ways of building them.’

The good news is that there’s a movement underway to change this. For years, Google has gone so far as to design its own networking hardware that runs its own software, seeking more control over its gear as it erected a global network of data centers. And a swashbuckling group of Silicon Valley startups — led by two outfits that sprang from research at Stanford University: Nicira and Big Switch Networks — are now offering tools that let the rest of the world follow in Google footsteps. The likes of Amazon and Microsoft and Facebook are already moving in this direction.

“With mobile and social and cloud computing, networks are growing to unprecedented sizes,” says Matthew Palmer, whose company, Wiretap Ventures, advises businesses on the design of their networks, “and we’ve been forced to find new ways of building them.”

This movement is known as “software-defined networking,” or SDN, and in many ways, it’s a threat to the networking old guard — the Ciscos and the Junipers and the HPs. It gives the world more freedom to buy hardware from other sources. But these tech giants certainly see where things are moving, and they realize that — one way or another — they too must change the way they do things.

That’s why, on Monday, some of the biggest names in tech are coming together to unveil what must be described as an unprecedented open source software project. Known as OpenDaylight and backed by everyone from Cisco and Juniper and HP to IBM and Microsoft, the project seeks to create a sweeping collection of software for building networks that are far more nimble than networks of the past, and it will freely share these tools with the world at large. According to those involved, the aim is to accelerate the evolution of a networking universe where you can readily mix and match software and hardware from disparate sources.

“This is something the networking industry desperately needs,” says Cisco chief technology of engineering David Ward. “It’s critical at this point in the history of the internet — and open source is the way to do it.”

Because these big names are joining forces — or at least claiming to join forces — OpenDaylight is yet another sign of just how quickly the networking world is moving towards the Google way, where networks can be programmed like computers. This project wouldn’t exist unless market forces were pushing these tech giants away from the status quo. But it isn’t necessarily what it seems. Open source software is as much about corporate power as computing altruism, and when the likes of Cisco and IBM and Microsoft are involved, there’s always a subtext. And that’s why Open Daylight is doubly interesting. It’s a window into the way big companies use open source software in an effort to seize control of very lucrative markets.

Open Source Is As Open Source Does

Cisco and Microsoft aren’t companies traditionally associated with open source software, but in recent years, both have begun to embrace it — in their own ways. With OpenDaylight, they’re continuing down that path, but the project is a little different from other high-profile efforts. It’s a project they’re starting themselves.

OpenDaylight arrives with some instant credibility because it’s hosted by the Linux Foundation, the not-for-profit that oversees the Linux operating system, the most successful open source project of them all. “Our role is to provide our experience and understanding in how to structure and setup an open community that can foster innovation,” says Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin. “All of these companies sought out an open, neutral community, where no single actor can dominate.”

In founding OpenDaylight, each company has already contributed at least some software code to the project. Basically, the aim is to create a network controller that can oversee all sorts of networking hardware from afar — and that you can program to suit your particular needs. At this point, the code is raw, but it’s already freely available to anyone who wants it. “The key to this project is real code,” says Zemlin.

— Mark Collier ‘The great thing about open source is that you can tell — in a really short period of time — whether people are serious about it. Open source can be a very tactical thing, but in this day and age, things that are just done for appearances don’t last long.’

But at the same time, the project is very much a power play by Cisco and others — an effort by gain greater control over the changing world of networking — and it’s yet to be seen whether these massive corporations will really come together and create a piece of software that can liberate networking in the same way projects like Linux and Hadoop and OpenStack have already liberated the way we use computer servers.

Linux and Hadoop and OpenStack are now backed by some of these same massive corporations. But all three of tools were originally built by people and companies interested in using them — not in selling them. Linux Torvalds built Linux because he wanted a better way to run his desktop PC. Yahoo created Hadoop because it wanted to beef up its search engine. Rackspace and NASA built OpenStack because they were trying to create their own version of Amazon’s cloud service. OpenDaylight is a project created by companies that want to sell you stuff — and that’s one of the reasons it’s so intriguing.

In a way, OpenDaylight mimics an existing open source project called Floodlight, which is overseen by Big Switch Networks, one of those swashbuckling startups that’s already pushing the networking game in new directions. Big Switch has also joined the OpenDaylight effort, and on the surface, it may seem as if all the members of this new project are pulling in the same direction. But it’s telling that the likes of Cisco have pushed for a brand new project rather than putting their weight behind Floodlight. They’re not interested in joining an effort where Big Switch has all the power. Whether the metaphor is intended of not, this is echoed even in the name of the project. If you have daylight, you don’t need a floodlight.

“Personally, I feel like it’s a major attempt at Cisco trying to control the SDN space,” says Carl Perry, an engineer with new-age networking outfit Midokura, which is not part of OpenDaylight. “All we know right now is it’s a press release, and in order to join the group takes a substantial amount of money.”

Open source projects aren’t always what people think they are. Yes, they’re a way of sharing software with the world at large. But nowadays, they’re also a way for big businesses to further their own agenda, and in some cases, companies create open source projects simply to keep markets from slipping away from them too quickly. If you’re a big corporation and a tiny startup is threatening your way of doing things, you can buy yourself some time by launching an open source project that mimics that startup. That way, it looks like you’re offering the same technology — even if you’re not. You have some added leverage as you work to keep customers from embracing someone else.

You may build that open source project into something useful or, behind the scenes, as the project languishes, you might push your own proprietary tools, hoping to keep your customers right where they are. Either way, it’s like a chess game. Even if you’re committed to building a open source platform, you certainly want to ensure that it suits your plans for making an awful lot of money.

Which way is OpenDaylight likely yo go? “It’s too early to tell,” says networking consultant Matthew Palmer. But according to Mark Collier, who helped bootstrap the OpenStack project, it won’t take long to see what what’s. “The great thing about open source is that you can tell — in a really short period of time — whether people are serious about it,” Collier says. “Open source can be a very tactical thing, but in this day and age, things that are just done for appearances don’t last long.”

In the end, Open Daylight may very well help the world create networks we can program like smartphones and servers. But maybe it won’t. The one thing do know is that if it doesn’t, something else will.