Network News: Rackspace Adds Brocade vRouter to Hybrid Cloud

Brocade's Vyatta vRouter enhances the Rackspace Hybrid cloud offering, Mellanox adds a dense, 12-port 40GbE switch, and Akamai integrates Operator CDN offerings, as a result of its Verivue acquisition.

Brocade to enhance Rackspace hybrid cloud.  Brocade (BRCD) announced the addition of the Vyatta vRouter to its portfolio of networking and security solutions for the Rackspace Hybrid Cloud. The software network appliance will add to the breadth of Rackspace’s networking solutions, which consist of physical firewalls and load balancers, as well as global traffic management, threat management, web application firewall and log management capabilities in the hybrid cloud. “We’re expanding the reach of our hybrid cloud portfolio by giving customers more choices for security and networking solutions to use across their public, private and dedicated cloud environments,” said John Engates, CTO at Rackspace. "To complement our existing physical firewall capabilities, the Brocade Vyatta vRouter now delivers virtual firewall and advanced networking solutions that enable customers to connect their data centers with the Rackspace Hybrid Cloud." "The value of the Brocade Vyatta vRouter is both in the security and cost savings it provides,” said Jack Lopez, chief technology officer at Netcare. “The flexibility of this solution allows us to quickly create a secure virtual firewall that our customers can use to protect their cloud servers from outside threats.  This can be done in a fraction of the time it would take to configure a physical firewall solution and it is far more economical.”

Mellanox launches 40Gb/s Ethernet Switch.  Mellanox (MLNX)  announced its SwitchX-2 based SX1012 Ethernet switch, a cost-effective solution for small-scale high-performance computing, storage and database deployments. With 12 ports of 40GbE fitting into just a single 1U spot, each port can provide up to 56 GbE line rate to further enhance performance, or be split into four standalone 10GbE interfaces. The Mellanox SX1012 switch solution is based on Mellanox’s Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) technology and can run the full capabilities of MLNX-OS® to enable the switch to work in mutual Ethernet and InfiniBand environments for maximum usability in various scenarios. “The Mellanox SX1012 Ethernet switch is a great fit into small-scale storage and database applications, providing very high-throughput capacity in a compact enclosure,” said Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “We are seeing increased market demand for small-scale 40GbE switches that can enable the creation of small high-performance clusters, storage solutions and database appliances. The new SX1012 switch delivers the right solution for these environments, removing the need for larger, more expensive switch platforms.”

Akamai enhances Aura Network Solutions.  Akamai Technologies (AKAM) announced that Aura Lumen and Aura Spectra are now available as part of the company's Aura Network Solutions family of Operator CDN (OCDN) technologies. Aura Network Solutions can help network service providers support new revenue generation opportunities, provide a superior user experience, manage network costs, and simplify the video delivery infrastructure for both operator-owned content and over-the-top (OTT) services. The integration of  Aura Lumen (licensed CDN) and Aura Spectra (Software-as-a-Service CDN), obtained through Akamai's acquisition of Verivue has allowed Akamai to deliver Aura Lumen as a comprehensive solution that can be owned and run by the operator, giving them greater control of their investment. "Many carriers are taking a very different approach to their CDN strategy than they did only a few years ago," said Paris Burstyn, senior analyst, Ovum. "In the past, there was a strong desire for operators to build their own CDN and go it alone in the market. Now, they actively seek a partnership approach to address their needs. Working with the right partner can improve their network economics by offloading more Internet traffic, help sell enterprise and media CDN services to their customers, and leverage an open system CDN to deliver multi-screen video experiences to their subscribers."