Ethernet Switch - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• After Arista and before Cisco/Insieme, Huawei hikes 100G bar again

  Huawei this week unveiled a high-end upgrade to its CloudEngine core switch, which debuted here at Interop a year ago.

• The cloud's the limit for new Arista, Brocade and HP switches

  Cloud scaling will be all the switching rage at this week’s Interop. Three major vendors last week took their platforms deeper into and then beyond the data center, outdueling each other on server access density and software programmability, two key attributes needed for the virtualized goldmine called the cloud. And in so doing, they have raised the bar and perhaps set the stage for one of the more anticipated announcements in SDN switching from Cisco spin-in Insieme.

• Juniper closer to Cisco in shipping SDN brains

  Juniper Networks this week will extend its SDN offerings with the release of its controller, roughly six months ahead of schedule.

• Arista heading off Cisco/Insieme at 100G SDNs?

  Arista is raising the ante in high-density programmable core switching and perhaps setting the stage for things to come.

• Extreme Networks replaces its CEO again

  Charles W. Berger is the beleaguered company's new president and CEO.

• Juniper switching boss talks technology challenges, Cisco Nexus 6000

  Jonathan Davidson took over Juniper campus and data center switching when the two previously separate business units were combined following the departure of founding engineer R.K. Anand. Davidson has a service provider routing background at Juniper and Cisco, which is no coincidence -- after five years in switching, Juniper has been unable to mirror the success it had in its first five years in service provider routing. But it did start from zero and surpassed at least six other incumbent vendors to attain the No. 3 position in the market. The company has more than 20,000 switching customers cultivated through organic development, Davidson notes. And as Juniper moves forward amid a forklift upgrade facing its EX core switch base and after an initial misfire on the QFabric data center switch, it's focusing on customer demands for simplification, agility and automation. Davidson discussed some recent and future developments in Juniper enterprise switching.

• Former switching chief McCool leaves Cisco

  Cisco Senior Vice President John McCool, CTO of the enterprise segment and instrumental in data center fabric initiatives, has left the company after 17 years.

• More SDN-friendly Arista switches could boost cloud services

  Arista Networks this week unveiled software-defined networking (SDN) extensions to its data center switch operating system that tie the company's products into cloud orchestration and flow management systems.

• New Juniper SDN device portends forklift upgrades for core Ethernet switch

  Any hopes Juniper EX8200 customers had that the core switch would grow to support next-generation 40/100G Ethernet, mobility, media-rich traffic, virtualization or cloud have been dashed.

• Juniper to unveil programmable core switch for software-defined networking

  Juniper Networks is readying a new programmable core switch to address software-defined networking in campuses and data centers.

• Cisco-funded startup unveils breakthrough router, targets SDNs

  A Cisco-funded router startup has unveiled its first product, which the company says implements breakthrough silicon-to-photonics circuitry for scaling service provider networks and enabling them for software-defined networking (SDN).

• Mellanox looks to head off Cisco, Juniper with open source Ethernet plan

  In an effort to better compete with data center switching rivals Cisco, Arista and Juniper, Mellanox is opening up.

• Driven by 10G, Ethernet switches buck economic headwinds

  The Ethernet switch market eked out modest growth in 2012 against the backdrop of an uncertain global economy, underscored by weakness in Europe and lower public sector spending.

• Dell strengthens data center line with OpenFlow support, high-end Ethernet switch

  Dell this week extended its data center networking portfolio with a new top-of-rack switch and plans to extend OpenFlow support for software-defined networking across its product line.

• Cisco Catalyst marries wired, wireless and SDN in one switch

  Cisco this week unveiled a new Catalyst switch and WLAN controller designed to converge wired and wireless networks and centralize management of both environments.