Open Networking

BareMetal Products

Open Networking "the New Norm"

What's Driving your Whitebox Strategy?

WHAT IS OPEN NETWORKING?

These days, depending on who you ask, you get a different view on what open networking really means.

Open Networking is a Whitebox switch, and vendor-agnostic Hardware
a set of concepts, practices and tools for the realization and management of highly performant, high-quality and high-value computing systems.
A physical separation of the network control plane from the forwarding plane, and where a control plane controls several devices.
Bare-metal hardware, based on open standard, with a choice of independent open software for NOS (Network Operating Systems), SDN, virtualization, and cloud orchestration.

We believe, to achieve true openness in networking, you need an architecture that's open every step of the way:

Open industry standards (such as OCP, TIP, etc.)
Open Hardware (hardware disaggregation)
Open Network Operating Software (NOS)
Open Source Control Plane

In summary, from the perspective of network infrastructure, all you have to remember is that Open Networking is the decoupling of the Hardware layer from the software layer.

Why Open Networking?

Open networking can optimize infrastructure investments and can form the basis for building agility into the way companies deliver IT services.

Reduced CAPEX: lower network equipment expenses
Lower Operating Expenses: reduced power, space and staff requirements
No vendor lock-in! Flexibility to work with best-in-class suppliers of Bare metal switches and NOS
Scale-out in smaller increments: pay-as-you-grow
Land and Expand – leverage and grow existing network infrastructure

How about Open Networking Risks?

The trend of Disaggregated Hardware is accelerating: there’s no going back to the old concept of compute and networks. But there are many considerations for adopters: many potential benefits but also many risks.

How do I get support? You will get support from your NOS (network OS) provider.
How reliable is the switch hardware? The switch hardware is manufactured by the same factory who produces the switches for big networking vendors. Most Hardware is Open Compute Project (OCP) inspired or Certified. The hardware design is available online.
How do I manage the Whitebox switch?Management is performed through a similar CLI, commands and concepts.
What happens if I change my OS supplier? Easy, simply swap the Network OS using ONIE. ONIE comes preloaded with all BareMetal switches. (If you are not a fan of Windows 8, you might install Windows 10, or Ubuntu Linux, but you won’t replace your laptop).

Is this really deployed? Who has adopted it?

Yes, in locations that require many switches, such as datacenter, Internet Exchanges, Financials, ISPs, etc.
Public and private cloud data centers of all sizes are being deployed with network fabrics built from open TOR and Spine switches.
Open networks are addressing telecommunications service provider requirements for new central office architectures, managed services delivery, monitoring and analytics networks.
Enterprises are deploying open network solutions outside their data centers, in distribution facilities, Power-over-Ethernet networks for wireless access and security applications, and their campus networks.
In fact, many service providers who have deployed bare metal switches don’t make it public to stay competitive and not let the competition know there are low cost way to build a robust network. Find out how AT&T, and the Open Networking Foundation are collaborating on wireless and broadband solutions that are easy to adopt and deploy. add video Watch the Video

Let’s Start Your Whitebox Strategy NOW

Here are some tips on what you should gradually consider when adopting Open Hardware for Data Center and Telco’s Edge And 5G Connectivity use cases:

Start with automating your Lab Connectivity with an intelligent Layer 1 Switch.
Disaggregate your visibility layer by using NextGen Network Packet Broker. NPB is affordable and low risk to get some hands-on experience.
Consider deploying of Open networking at the Top Of Rack (TOR)/SPINE switches used for network OOB management.
Consider deploying of Open networking at the TOR/SPINE switches used in production within a rack or single POD (limited blast radius).
Expand across the datacenter by leveraging your deployment and experience acquired in previous steps.
Deploy and Interconnect multiple Data Centers.
Disaggregate 10G Passive Optical Networks (PON) Optical Line Terminal (OLT).
Open network packet transponder.
Cell Site Gateway Router.

Why US? Our Value Proposition

As an OCP Community Level Tiered Member, we take a strategic approach to helping our customers Select, Source, and Deploy Open Switch solutions:

We Help you Select:
- A single point of contact between various suppliers.
- Reseller of EdgeCore, Delta, Celestica, IPinfusion, Pluribus, Cumulus, Arrcus, etc.
We Help You Source:
- A strategic partner to simplify your Networking procurement process.
- Whitebox, optics, NOS - hassle-free, consolidated shipments.
- Stock availability/Warehousing in Canada to shorten your lead time
We Help You Deploy:
- A broad range of expertise on leading edge solutions such as Hardware Connectivity, and Automation.

Conclusion: Don't be afraid of trying. Contact us to Start Your Whitebox Strategy NOW.

Partners section

We believe combining Open Networking Hardware and Open software empowers our customers to achieve the best combinations of software and hardware to scale-out networks with any combination of 10, 25, 40 or 100 Gigabit interfaces. We partner with the following suppliers: