Dell EMC collaborates with ADVA on virtualized uCPE

ADVA and Dell EMC today announced a strategic collaboration to deliver open virtualized uCPE solutions for service provider and enterprise customers.

The new uCPE solution will be built on ADVA’s Ensemble Connector NFVi platform, which enables network operators to access virtual network functions (VNFs), including software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). New and existing Dell EMC customers will be able to take advantage of consolidated management as well as a comprehensive portfolio of over 50 onboarded VNFs. The joint solution has already been harnessed by Verizon to securely deploy multiple software-based services on a single uCPE installation.

“There is a real need among service providers and enterprises to update network operations to address distributed and cloud-based applications and capitalize on changing economics enabled by cloud models,” said Tom Burns, SVP and GM, Networking and Solutions, Dell EMC. “By infusing Open Networking into access networks to the cloud with the Virtual Edge Platform family, Dell EMC can help customers modernize infrastructure and transform operations while automating service delivery and processes.”

“Today’s network operators need solutions that are optimized for uCPE. Dell EMC’s new uCPE platforms are the answer to that challenge. Combined with our high-performance Ensemble Connector NFVi software, it provides an open architecture to support multiple simultaneous VNFs. By connecting the enterprise edge to the cloud, it provides unrivaled choice, drives growth and significantly improves end-user experience,” commented James Buchanan, GM, Edge Cloud, ADVA.

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Liqid delivers software-defined fabric for AI workloads on Dell

Liqid, which has developed a software-defined composable infrastructure platform, announced an OEM relationship with Dell Technologies OEM & IoT Solutions.

Liqid's software-defined fabric can be coupled with the Dell EMC PowerEdge portfolio to deliver low-latency resource allocation to pools of disaggregated GPUs, FPGAs, CPUs, NVMe storage and Intel Optane memory extension technologies. This enables users to orchestrate balanced systems for each AI phase of data ingest, cleaning/tagging, training, and inference, while minimizing the data center footprint.

Liqid is based in Broomfield, Colorado.

“AI workloads represent a highly uneven series of compute processes in which data is moved from one system to the next depending on the task, with resources sitting idle much of the time. The cost associated with these architectural inefficiencies can make AI, edge computing, and other economy-driving technologies unsustainable for many users,” said Sumit Puri, CEO and Cofounder, Liqid. “We are proud to work with Dell Technologies OEM & IoT Solutions to provide solutions based on our respective, award-winning technologies, delivering composable infrastructure that permit users to utilize a single, comprehensive, adaptive platform to increase utilization by at least 2-3X and reduce the data center footprint for high-value applications.”

“Many organizations are looking for ways to integrate AI and machine learning into their IT infrastructure while avoiding the hardware sprawl and inefficiencies that often come with it,” said Ron Pugh, Vice President, Dell Technologies OEM & IoT Solutions. “Liqid now can provide its composable solutions for AI, based on trusted Dell EMC PowerEdge infrastructure and support, for IT users seeking to improve utilization and efficiency for data-intensive applications.”

http://www.liqid.com

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Dell EMC boosts its Cloud-enabled platforms

In conjunction with VMworld in Las Vegas, Dell EMC announced several enhancements to its cloud-enabled infrastructure solutions portfolio.

Highlights include:

• Dell EMC VxRail and VMware VxRack advancements for software-defined data centers and multi-cloud
• Infrastructure portfolio updates focused on storage, data protection and security 
• Additional flexible consumption options with public cloud-like economics to align resources with workload requirements
• Cloud consulting and technology services advance cloud strategy and execution
• The introduction of a new nDell EMC Cloud Marketplace self-service portal 
• Improved data storage utilization by way of tight integration with Virtustream Storage Cloud and Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage.
• Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud DR has been enhanced for application-consistent cloud disaster recovery in AWS, as well as recovery to VMware Cloud on AWS. 
• Dell EMC Cloud Snapshot Manager noe provides backup and recovery for public cloud workloads, and now offers protection for Microsoft Azure. 
• VMware vCloud Director features a new data protection extension that now enables cloud service providers to offer an integrated VMware and Data Protection self-service solution to customers. 

"As more applications and traditional workloads move into various clouds, the proliferation of cloud siloes will become inevitable, inhibiting organizations' ability to fully exploit business differentiators like data analytics and burgeoning AI initiatives," said Sam Grocott, senior vice president at Dell EMC. "Dell EMC's focused innovation across its cloud-enabled portfolio of platforms, infrastructure, consumption models and services helps organizations evolve more quickly to a cloud operating model for the modern data center."

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Metaswitch positions Composable Network Protocols for disaggregated networking

Metaswitch introduced a portfolio of Composable Network Protocols (CNP) for powering next-generation white box routing platforms with fully-decoupled control plane components and open management interfaces.

The suite of Composable Network Protocols is based on Metaswitch's more than 35 years of protocol development. Its proven and stable IP routing and MPLS networking stacks and layer 2 and 3 protocols are deployed in the products of more than 250 network OEMs, which the company says distinguishes its code from open source alternatives, enabling true software disaggregation while lowering capex, opex and operational risks. Metaswitch's CNP routing and control plane protocols install and operate as binary applications on top of any open network operating system, running stand-alone or combined with any third-party commercial or open source stack.

“Our new white box and open network operating system solution introduces groundbreaking capabilities and flexible purchasing options, while reducing the risk of moving to a fully-disaggregated architecture,” said Martin Lund, CEO of Metaswitch. “Metaswitch has a very strong track record in the development and deployment of hardened protocol stacks for the most demanding applications and OEMs and we look forward to working with an expanded range of customers to help them realize the future of composable networking.”

In addition, Dell EMC has agreed to resell Metaswitch Composable Network Protocols (CNP). Specifically, Dell EMC will combine Metaswitch’s CNP IP routing and MPLS networking stacks with its own EMC OS10 Open Edition on ONIE-enabled platforms. The companies said this joint solution embodies the evolution of networking software as it introduces new levels of software flexibility and programmability in large-scale data center environments for cloud and communications services providers (CSPs).

“The combination of Metaswitch CNP and Dell EMC OS10 Open Edition significantly raises the viability of software disaggregation in production deployments,” said Drew Schulke, VP of networking at Dell EMC. “With this comprehensive portfolio of hardened network protocol stacks, we’ll work closely on addressing the complexities of data center interconnect and wide-area IP/MPLS routing at scale. We’re pleased to be working closely with Metaswitch with its long and successful track record of development and deployment of protocol stacks.”

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BT evaluates Dell EMC's disaggregated switches

BT is evaluating the performance of Dell EMC disaggregated switches against traditional integrated switching hardware to test the performance, economics and programmability of this new, virtualized approach, which is important as customers increasingly require more flexible, agile networks.  The proof-of-concept is running at BT Labs in Adastral Park, Suffolk.

Dell EMC said disaggregated switches have several potential advantages over traditional network switches, as they can be managed flexibly using Netconf protocol and YANG models. This makes the entire system inherently programmable and allows the switches to be operated in concert to spin up new network services or make configuration changes rapidly.

BT and Dell EMC are evaluating a number of potential use cases as part of the trial, including instant activation of Ethernet circuits from a third party (such as an enterprise), and the ability of the system to deliver real-time network operational data. The platform also has the potential to deliver other programmable use cases such as bandwidth calendaring – flexing the bandwidth of an Ethernet circuit according to customer need via a predetermined calendar – and delivering network telemetry data to third parties automatically.

Neil J. McRae, chief architect for BT said, “This proof-of-concept trial with Dell EMC will enable us to evaluate the performance of disaggregated switches against traditional integrated network switches, and make informed decisions about the role this kind of solution will play in the dynamic network services of the future. We’re determined to ensure that BT’s network continues to be world-class and able to deliver the services our customers need, when and how they need them. Agility and programmability, maximizing the benefits of SDN, are therefore key to our future network evolution.”

http://www.btplc.com
https://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2017/20170816-01.htm

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OpenSwitch Adds Contributions from Dell EMC and SnapRoute

The OpenSwitch Project, which is developing an open source, Linux-based Network Operating System, announced contributions from SnapRoute and Dell EMC.

The enhanced contributions include:

• SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which enable a fully modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs.
• Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents a fully open, fully disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform abstraction layers for networking switching applications.

Other OpenSwitch project supporting members and participating organizations include Barefoot Networks, Broadcom, Cavium, Inc., Centec Networks, Edgecore Networks, Extreme Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, LinkedIn, Marvell, Mellanox Technologies, Nephos Inc., P4.org, Quattro Networks and Terralogic.

"The OpenSwitch community continues to demonstrate its enthusiastic commitment to the creation of an open source network operating system," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation. "It's exciting to see a rapid influx of contributions to OpenSwitch, which are priming the project to support next-generation requirements and features."

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/announcements/snaproute-and-dell-emc-to-help-advance-linux-foundation%E2%80%99s-openswitch-project

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