Penguin Computing Offers Ethernet Switches With Software Options

News developments from the networking sector include Penguin Computing launching a new line of open, SDN Ethernet switches; the Detroit Tigers selecting Exinda to help manage the media using its networks; and Ciena collaborating with research and education networking leaders to build an international software-defined WAN to accelerate a SDN ecosystem.

Penguin Computing launches new SDN Ethernet Switches.  Penguin Computing announced its new Arctica line of Ethernet network switches, a branded suite of industry standard Ethernet switches that are offered with multiple networking software options and enterprise support. To begin, the line will consist of a 48-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Arctica 4804i and the 48-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch Arctica 4804x. The difference in this product line is  Penguin offers multiple network software options, instead of a proprietary network software stack. Also, Penguin is providing the Arctica switches as the first products on the market that are also offered with Cumulus Linux pre-installed. Cumulus Linux is a complete Linux distribution for network switches. “The network world is moving from proprietary network stacks to an open ecosystem that offers more choice, cost-effectiveness and flexibility. Within this ecosystem our native Linux distribution Cumulus Linux enables customers to leverage existing Linux expertise and tools to build and manage their networking infrastructures at a much lower price point than traditional switch offerings,” said William Choe, Head of Business Development at Cumulus Networks.

Exinda selected by the Detroit Tigers.  Exinda announced that the Detroit Tigers have deployed Exinda’s Network Control Suite to manage how journalists, photographers and broadcast media use the organization’s network and protect the user experience they rely on to report on games. Using this solution allows the team to prioritize the constant tweets, blog posts, high resolution photos and up-to-the-minute reporting coming from media personnel, while restraining recreational video and music streaming during rain delays and in-between innings that previously overloaded the network. “We needed a solution where we could look at usage by individual user and individual application, and intelligently create policies to better monitor and control usage and we found that with Exinda,” said James Darrow, Director of IT for the Detroit Tigers. “When our IT team is working the games, they have the Exinda dashboard up on the screen so they can see in real time what’s going on,” Darrow said. “Using Exinda, we’ve been able to limit that non-essential traffic when we need to.”

Ciena collaborates to build SDN Ecosystem.  Ciena (CIEN)  announced that it is collaborating with CANARIE, Internet2 and StarLight to build the industry’s first network that unites all of the key packet, optical and software building blocks required to demonstrate and prove the benefits of software-defined, multi-layer wide area networks. Using Ciena’s OPn network approach the collaboration will support a fully operational end-to-end WAN that leverages OpenFlow across both the packet and transport layers, is supported by an open architecture carrier-scale controller and intrinsic multi-layer operation, and incorporates real-time analytics software applications.It will be the first to broadly deploy multi-layer SDN technologies, providing OpenFlow-enabled SDN at both the optical transport layer as well as the packet networking layer. “Going above and beyond a simple testbed, this live, fully functional network will drive continued innovation and demonstrate how a truly OPn network architecture can unleash the full power of SDN in the WAN," said Steve Alexander, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ciena.