Big Switch Networks Introduces Community Edition
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 26 -- Big Switch Networks, the leader in bringing hyperscale-inspired networking to data centers worldwide, today announced significant updates to its Big Monitoring Fabric and Big Cloud Fabric solutions, and introduced Community Edition. Big Switch Community Edition is the networking industry's first freemium model: software worth $25,000, now available to download and deploy.
Big Switch continues a rapid pace of innovation and feature velocity, delivering new capabilities in Big Monitoring Fabric 5.5, including inline security service chaining, an Intel x86 DPDK service node for advanced network services, and 100G support. Big Cloud Fabric 3.5 delivers deeper integration with VMware vCenter, vRealize Log Insight, certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 7, and the ability to logically create vPods that can be associated with different orchestrators to drastically simplify cloud deployments.
"Data center networking is going through a dramatic change as both SDN and hardware / software disaggregation adoption accelerates. The Community Edition as well as the new features in Big Monitoring Fabric and Big Cloud Fabric are the direct result of feedback from more than 100 customers," said Douglas Murray, CEO, Big Switch Networks. "We understand the importance of innovation velocity and are rapidly adding transformational capabilities in support of our mission to disrupt the status quo of networking."
Community Edition
Community Edition is an industry-first freemium offering for data center networking. The software is a perpetual license of both Big Monitoring Fabric and Big Cloud Fabric that can be downloaded for use in lab and development environments. Community Edition makes it easy for organizations to download software on premise and provides the opportunity to experience the agility, efficiency, ease of management and economics of SDN fabrics and open networking switches.
Community Edition offers a perpetual license for organizations to get started with SDN:
- Big Monitoring Fabric includes software for one switch and VM controller pair
- Big Cloud Fabric includes software for one leaf pair and VM controller pair
Community Edition will run on a specific hardware compatibility list that is published on Big Switch's website. Big Switch also provides optional on-line purchase of compatible switches and cables. Community Edition is free to download at www.bigswitch.com/community-edition.
"Community Edition is the networking industry's first software-style freemium model, so a broader set of users can experience the simplicity and economics of SDN fabrics and open networking switches," said Prashant Gandhi, VP of Product Management and Strategy, Big Switch Networks. "With free Big Switch Labs, free Community Editions and low-cost Starter Kits, mainstream enterprises and service providers can adopt hyperscale-inspired networking software risk-free."
Big Monitoring Fabric 5.5
Big Monitoring Fabric (formerly Big Tap) is a next-generation network packet broker (NPB) that leverages SDN principles and Open Networking switches to provide feature-rich, scale-out data center monitoring at 50% less cost than traditional NPBs. Popular customer use cases for Big Monitoring Fabric include: monitoring every rack, mobile/LTE monitoring, remote DC monitoring & DMZ/Extranet inline security. New capabilities include:
- DPDK Advanced Packet Service Node:
- Supports: de-duplication, packet slicing, regex pattern matching services, at multi-10G performance
- Hardware Appliance: an enterprise-class, NEBS Level 3 & ETSI Compliant hardware appliance with 4 x 10G bi-directional interfaces
- Advanced Fabric Analytics:
- sFlow Collector, historical time series, DHCP / DNS / ICMP trackers for enhanced monitoring
- New switch hardware support:
- Support for high-performance 32x100GbE switches from Dell (Z9100-ON) and Accton (AS7712-32X); also operates in 10GbE/40GbE modes and is future proof for 25GbE/50GbE
- Security Service Chain (inline mode) Enhancements: Driven by cybersecurity needs, the inline mode simplifies deployment and change management of multiple DMZ/Extranet security tools. Enhancements include flexible policy-based service chaining, custom messages for tool health and sub-second health checks.
Big Cloud Fabric 3.5
Big Cloud Fabric is the industry's first leaf/spine SDN fabric to support open networking switches. The Big Cloud Fabric controller acts as a single pane of glass for network provisioning, troubleshooting, visibility and analytics of the entire physical and virtual network environment. New capabilities include:
- VMware vSphere Enhanced Network Visibility & Automation
- vCenter 6.0 GUI Plugin that provides visibility and L2/L3 fabric configuration to vCenter admin upon authorization by network admin
- vRealize Log Insight Content Pack to provide cloud admin Big Cloud Fabric visibility and analytics
- OpenStack: Certification with Red Hat OpenStack Platform 7
- vPods with Single Physical Big Cloud Fabric: Support for multiple, isolated vPods, where each vPod can be associated with a different vSphere or OpenStack orchestration
- Security: Cryptographically secure communication between BCF Controller and BCF fabric switches
Company Momentum and Customer Adoption
Big Switch enjoyed another strong fiscal year in 2015 with more than 300% growth and closing multiple deals in excess of $1M+. In early 2016 Big Switch announced its Series C funding for $48.5M, which included participation from both new and existing investors such as: Silver Lake Waterman, Morgenthaler Ventures, Accton, CID Group, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, MSD Capital and others. Additionally, the company named former NetApp CEO, Dan Warmenhoven, as well as seasoned venture capitalist Gary Morgenthaler to its Board of Directors.
Big Switch now has a customer base across the US, APAC and EMEA regions, in verticals including tech, financial services, government, telecom, and higher education. Customers include the U.S. Federal Government, Intuit, Clemson University, CleanSafeCloud, U2 Cloud, 5 of the 10 largest telcos in the world, multiple global financial services firms, media companies, and a Fortune 5 oil & gas company.
About Big Switch Networks
Big Switch Networks is the market leader in bringing hyperscale data center networking technologies to a mainstream data center audience. The company is taking three key hyperscale technologies -- OEM/ODM bare metal and open Ethernet switch hardware, sophisticated SDN control software, and core-and-pod data center designs -- and leveraging them in fit-for-purpose products designed for use in enterprises, cloud providers, and service providers. The company's Big Monitoring Fabric is a feature-rich next-generation Network Packet Broker to monitor and protect existing networks, and Big Cloud Fabric is the industry's most advanced open networking switching fabric intended for new data center pods such as OpenStack private cloud, VMware NSX, big data, and VDI. For additional information, email [email protected], follow @bigswitch, or visit www.bigswitch.com.
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Source: Big Switch Networks
