IO Visor Project Aims for Universal In-Kernel Linux VM

A new IO Visor Project has been launched by The Linux Foundation with a mission to advance IO and networking technologies to address new requirements presented by cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

The idea is to create a universal in-kernel virtual machine with run-time extensibility -- essentially, "a new type of programmable data plane that enables developers to dynamically build IO modules (think stand alone “programs” that can manipulate a packet in the kernel and perform all sort of functions on it), load and unload those in-kernel at run time and do it without any disruption to the system." The IO modules would be able to run on any hardware that supports Linux.

The core technology behind IO Visor Project is eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter). The IO Visor Project is supported initially with contributions from PLUMgrid.

Founding members of IO Visor include Barefoot Networks, Broadcom, Canonical, Cavium, Cisco, Huawei, Intel, PLUMgrid and SUSE.

“The ability to modify a Linux kernel at runtime without rebooting the server or entire data center is critical to efficient operation of SDN and NFV technologies,” said Pere Monclus, founder and CTO at PLUMgrid. “As a company that actively supports a number of open source projects, we believe that open sourcing IO Visor through a community hosted with the Linux Foundation was in the best interests of not only our company, but of everyone dependent upon agile and highly performant cloud technologies at scale.”

http://www.plumgrid.com/press-releases/2015/08/new-io-visor-project-to-advance-linux-networking-and-virtualization-for-modern-data-centers/
https://www.iovisor.org/

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IBM Unveils LinuxONE Mainframes with Virtualization and Container Support

IBM introduced two Linux mainframe servers – called LinuxONE – designed for hybrid clouds and the new era of open systems.  With its new LinuxONE mainframe, IBM will enable open source and industry tools and software, including Apache Spark, Node.js, MongoDB, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Chef and Docker. IBM, which helped pioneer virtualization on the mainframe, will now offer more choices for virtualization by enabling the new LinuxONE systems to be provisioned as a virtual machine through the open standards-based KVM hypervisor.

Some highlights of the announcement:

• LinuxONE is a new portfolio of hardware, software and services solutions, providing two distinct Linux systems for large enterprises and mid-size businesses.
• LinuxONE Emperor, based on the IBM z13, is described as the world’s most advanced Linux system with the fastest processor in the industry. The system is capable of analyzing transactions in “real time” and can be used to help prevent fraud as it is occurring. The system can scale up to 8,000 virtual machines or hundreds of thousands of containers – currently the most of any single Linux system.
• LinuxONE Rockhopper, an entry into the portfolio, is designed for clients and emerging markets seeking the speed, security and availability of the mainframe but in a smaller package.
• SUSE, which provides Linux distribution for the mainframe, will now support KVM, giving clients a new hypervisor option.
• Canonical and IBM also announced plans to create an Ubuntu distribution for LinuxONE and z Systems.
• IBM will contribute a large amount of its mainframe code to open source community – this includes code to help enterprises identify issues and help prevent failures before they happen, help improve performance across platforms and enable better integration with the broader network and cloud.
• IBM is joining the Linux Foundation's new “Open Mainframe Project,” which brings together a collaboration of nearly a dozen organizations across academia, government and corporate sectors to advance development and adoption of Linux on the mainframe.

"Fifteen years ago IBM surprised the industry by putting Linux on the mainframe, and today more than a third of IBM mainframe clients are running Linux,” said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president, IBM Systems. “We are deepening our commitment to the open source community by combining the best of the open world with the most advanced system in the world in order to help clients embrace new mobile and hybrid cloud workloads. Building on the success of Linux on the mainframe, we continue to push the limits beyond the capabilities of commodity servers that are not designed for security and performance at extreme scale."

http://www.ibm.com/linuxone
http://ibm.biz/linuxONEimages

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Equinix Provides Carrier-Neutral Access to AquaComms' Transatlantic Cable

Equinix's New York and London International Business Exchange data centers will serve as carrier-neutral network access points for AquaComms new transatlantic fiber optic system, America Europe Connect (AEConnect), which is scheduled to enter service before the end of the year.

AEConnect spans more than 5,400 km across the Atlantic between Long Island, NY and the West Coast of Ireland.

AquaComms’ AEConnect is one of the first subsea cables between New York City and London in nearly 15 years and was specifically designed to meet the high growth of bandwidth requirements of global data centers, cloud-based networks, financial services market participants and content providers. With more than 52 Tbps of available capacity, the 100G compliant system will utilize the latest optical technologies to provide the most advanced subsea system, coupled with a control plane based on a SDN platform to serve bandwidth-intensive applications.

http://www.equinix.com
http://www.AquaComms.com

• Earlier this year Equinix announced that it is boosting interconnection capacity by opening new data centers in five major markets including New York and London. Equinix’s New York campus is the largest retail colocation campus in the New York metro and has a high interconnection rate, with more than 18,000 interconnections between businesses in this metro alone. 
• AEConnect will be optimized to carry 130 wavelengths of 100G per fiber pair. It will also feature an SDN control plan for advanced service provisioning.

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Lagrange Systems Offer ADC Integrated with Google Cloud Platform

Lagrange System, a start-up offering an Application Delivery Controller (ADC), announced that it is now a Google Cloud Platform Technology Partner.

The Lagrange CloudMaestro application delivery controller (ADC) is built for web workloads within cloud provider infrastructure.  It proactively optimizes performance, dynamically scales sites out and in to synchronize with traffic demands, increases cloud throughput, and secures and self-heals across any cloud.

By tapping into the Google Cloud Platform, e-commerce and enterprise customers can work with right-sized infrastructure scaled proactively and in real time.
"The only way to always offer a consistently positive customer experience is to make sure your website infrastructure stays perfectly synchronized with demand," said Jay Smith, CTO of Lagrange Systems. "The Google Cloud Platform with CloudMaestro can provide high-quality resources that deliver consistent performance relative to the load -- an approach that helps businesses meet their user expectations in an affordable, simple and scalable way."

http://www.lagrangesystems.com/

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F5 Validates BIG-IP Virtual Editions within Leading Clouds

F5 Networks launched a program to verify that its software-based solutions support a broad array of cloud providers worldwide.

Specifically, the F5 Ready program verifies F5 BIG-IP virtual edition compatibility with a growing list of public cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bluelock, BT, Cisco Intercloud, Datacom, Dimension Data, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, SingleHop, Skytap, and VMware vCloud Air. F5 Ready will continue to add cloud providers from around the globe and across industries to best serve the diverse needs of customers worldwide.

“Organizations going to the cloud want to know that they don’t have to give up their valuable application services to get there,” said Alex Rublowsky, Sr. Director, Licensing Business Models at F5. “Through the F5 Ready program, customers can keep their trusted security, availability, and acceleration services—even as they evaluate cloud service providers, combine technologies from multiple vendors, and look to scale additional application resources to public cloud environments.”

https://f5.com/about-us/news/press-releases/new-program-seamlessly-blends-f5-and-cloud-service-provider-technologies

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Spectra Logic Introduces Shingled Magnetic Recording

Spectra Logic introduced a new Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR)-based NAS disk platform designed to provide high-density bulk storage for reliable, high-capacity digital preservation.

SMR technology is described as the lowest cost spinning media currently available with costs as low as 9 cents per gigabyte raw.

Verde DPE (Digital Preservation Enterprise) utilizes the newest SMR disk technology and is optimized by Spectra Logic’s unique ZFS implementation, which provides data integrity with RAID Z3 triple parity, automatic rebuild to global spare drives, continuous data checksum, and asynchronous replication. The system is expandable to 7.4 PB raw in a single rack – 2.5 more dense than most other systems on the market.

“Verde DPE combines our 35 years of deep storage expertise with the latest in disk technology providing the most affordable way to preserve digital assets forever,” said Spectra Logic Chief Executive Officer, Nathan C. Thompson. “We will always provide our customers with best-in-class solutions and superior customer support for total confidence in the safety of their data.”

https://www.spectralogic.com/products/verde-dpe/

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