diff --git a/drivers/stratum/src/main/java/org/onosproject/drivers/stratum/StratumHandshaker.java b/drivers/stratum/src/main/java/org/onosproject/drivers/stratum/StratumHandshaker.java
index ac9a534..7b41f85 100644
--- a/drivers/stratum/src/main/java/org/onosproject/drivers/stratum/StratumHandshaker.java
+++ b/drivers/stratum/src/main/java/org/onosproject/drivers/stratum/StratumHandshaker.java
@@ -64,7 +64,12 @@
 
     @Override
     public CompletableFuture<Boolean> probeReachability() {
-        return p4runtime.probeReachability();
+        // p4runtime probe reachability is based on GetPipelineConfig gRPC that
+        // can timeout if we are setting in parallel the pipeline: the two requests
+        // can concur for the same lock. For our purposes it is enough to check if
+        // the device is still there; for this reason stratum handshaker now relies
+        // on gNOI reachability which is based on getTime RPC.
+        return gnoi.probeReachability();
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/protocols/p4runtime/ctl/src/main/java/org/onosproject/p4runtime/ctl/client/P4RuntimeClientImpl.java b/protocols/p4runtime/ctl/src/main/java/org/onosproject/p4runtime/ctl/client/P4RuntimeClientImpl.java
index fdf5a94..5e29d62 100644
--- a/protocols/p4runtime/ctl/src/main/java/org/onosproject/p4runtime/ctl/client/P4RuntimeClientImpl.java
+++ b/protocols/p4runtime/ctl/src/main/java/org/onosproject/p4runtime/ctl/client/P4RuntimeClientImpl.java
@@ -55,10 +55,12 @@
     private static final long DEFAULT_P4_DEVICE_ID = 1;
 
     // TODO: consider making timeouts configurable per-device via netcfg
+    // We have measured that some devices can take up to 15s to push a pipeline
+    // which can block potentially other READ done against the target.
     /**
      * Timeout in seconds for short/fast RPCs.
      */
-    static final int SHORT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 10;
+    static final int SHORT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 15;
     /**
      * Timeout in seconds for RPCs that involve transfer of potentially large
      * amount of data. This shoulld be long enough to allow for network delay