************
Introduction
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`Kytos SDN Platform <https://kytos.io>`_ is the fastest way to deploy an SDN
Network! With Kytos you can deploy a basic SDN controller using protocols like
OpenFlow. The software was designed to be easy to deploy and run, and the
concept of Network Applications (NApps) is introduced to empower the network
administrator with simple and fast-paced solution development, including the
option to share the code among an active and interested community.

Kytos's modular design together with this ease to deploy and develop
makes it a lightweight SDN Platform. The creation of the Platform was motivated
by some gaps left behind by common SDN solutions. Moreover, it has strong
tights with a community view, so it is centered on the development of
applications by its users. Thus, our intention is not only to build a new SDN
solution, but also to build a community of developers around it, creating new
applications that benefit from the SDN paradigm.

The project was born in 2014, when the first version of the message parsing
library was built. After some time on standby, the development took off in
earlier 2016.

For more information about this project, please visit `Kytos project website
<https://kytos.io/>`_.

Main highlights
===============

Speed focused
-------------

We keep the word *performance* in mind since the beginning of the development:
as computer scientists we will always try to get the best performance by
implementing the most suitable algorithms.

Our developers participated in several demonstrations involving tests with
high-speed networks (~ 1 terabit/s), Some of those involving data transfers
from/to `CERN <https://home.cern/>`_.

Easy to learn
-------------

We always aim at write our code in the most "pythonic way".
We also have a well documented API.

Born to be free
---------------

OpenFlow was born with a simple idea: make your network more vendor agnostic
and we like that!

We are advocates and supporters of free software and we believe the more
eyes observe a certain code, a better code will be generated. This project can
receive support from many vendors, but will never follow a particular vendor
direction.

We will always keep this code open.

.. _sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/
.. _tcpdump: http://www.tcpdump.org/
