Latest Cumulus Linux OS Release Supports x86 Architecture

Cumulus Networks, a startup with a Linux-based operating system for commodity data center network switches, has added support for a new hardware architectures and expanded the feature set in the latest Cumulus Linux 2.2 release.

The OS now supports x86 CPU architectures, making it simpler to deploy on Dell S6000-ON and Penguin Computing Arctica 4806XP switches. Cumulus now supports 16 hardware platforms, two CPU architectures and five vendors.

Cumulus launched the OS in June 2013, marketing it as an alternative to proprietary network software sold by Cisco and other market incumbents that is inseparable from their hardware. The company has been expanding the ecosystem of partners that support its software since the launch.

Jussi Kukkonen, director of product management at Penguin, said the vendor’s customers running high-performance computing clusters and scale-out data center architectures found flexibility of the x86 and Linux application environment valuable.

“Cumulus Linux 2.2, powering our new Penguin Arctica 4806XP switch, meets the growing customer demand for an open 10/40 Gigabit Ethernet networking fabric with the ease and flexibility of an x86-Linux application environment,” he said.

In release 2.2, Cumulus also added a suite of solutions for dual-attached servers, overlay solutions for L2 cloud services on bare-metal switches and Lightweight Network Virtualization, among other features.

Here’s the list: