The Lippis Report

May 27th, 2013

Cisco introduced enhancements to its VXLAN implementation in the Nexus 1000V virtual switch that overcomes the requirement for IP Multicast. In addition Cisco is integrating vPath to VXLAN for service insertion that stitches virtual services into VXLAN overlay tunnels. Network services might include virtual firewalls, application delivery controllers, WAN optimization, network monitors, etc. A final VXLAN challenge that network teams are facing is how to integrate VXLAN into legacy networks and with existing physical networks, appliances and the enterprise WAN. We’ll hear if Cisco has any solutions to get around this issue as well. Han Yang of Cisco joins me to discuss VXLAN, without multicast and with vPath, and how it can be used to deploy virtual network overlays.

February 4th, 2013

By Broadcom

Today’s massive scale data centers offer high aggregate network bandwidth for large compute clusters. Fast, fat and flat networks are widely deployed with the more ubiquitous adoption of computer virtualization and the proliferation of clustered applications. Broadcom’s StrataXGS architecture-based Ethernet switches support the SmartSwitch series of technologies to ensure that such network infrastructure design requirements can be implemented comprehensively, cost-effectively and in volume scale. Broadcom’s Smart-Hash technology, part of SmartSwitch, implements several new hashing enhancements that improve network performance and overcome limitations imposed by traditional schemes. This white paper discusses current data center traffic trends, the implications of such and related enhancement featured in Smart-Hash technology.

January 7th, 2013

By Broadcom

A critical element of cloud network scalability is forwarding table size of data center network switches. Forwarding table size impacts data center scalability, that is the number of servers and virtual machines (VM) per server, the ability to load-balance and provide full cross-sectional bandwidth across switch links. In turn, these scalability elements directly impact application performance and mobility. VMs and server sprawl, plus increased use of tunneling or overlay technologies, further exacerbate scaling challenges. This white paper explores forwarding table size requirements in private and public cloud data center networks, and considers how such requirements affect the design of data center network switches. It also describes features that are enabled by Broadcom’s Smart-Table technology, part of Broadcom’s SmartSwitch series of technologies, engineered specifically to meet feature and scale requirements of cloud networks.

September 15th, 2012

This is the fourth and last podcast in a four part series on Cisco’s Open Network Environment or Cisco ONE. Cisco ONE utilizes the multi-hypervisor Nexus 1000V virtual switch to create virtual network overlays and will be enabling programmability through programmatic interfaces to its virtual supervisor module (VSM), enabling automation-centric provisioning. To make virtual overlays functionally equivalent to physical data center networks, virtual Layer 4-7 application network and virtual security services are added via its virtualization stack of related protocols and layered products. Gary Kinghorn, Senior Manager, Data Center and Cloud Solution Marketing at Cisco Systems joins me to discuss Cisco’s approach to virtual network overlays.

Duration: 22 minutes and 37 seconds

Lippis Intro/Analysis @ : 00:10 sec

Question 1 @ 2:36 sec: Gary, would you like to add anything to my virtual network overlay discussion in the intro that’s unique to Cisco?

Question 2 @ 3:45 sec: What are some of the misperceptions that most need to be cleared up?

Question 3 @ 4:42 sec: Gary, you and I talked before about a network virtualization stack early this year, and now the conversation appears to have shifted to this virtual overlay concept. Are these really the same things that Cisco has been talking about for a while? Or what’s different and what’s behind the evolution?

Question 4 @ 7:11 sec: There’s a lot of discussion in the industry now about the virtual switch being a key strategic battleground going forward, and that presumably extends to virtual overlay infrastructures overall. We know that VMware acquiring Nicira gives them an overlay story as well that could lead to competition with Cisco specifically in this area. Is this a “battleground”, and if so, what makes Cisco’s approach different or unique?

Question 5 @ 16:23 sec : Lets talk use cases. When do you go from a physical network to a virtual one, when do you need overlays, and what are the applications that are going to be built on top of these new SDN API’s?

Question 6 @ 18:19 sec: Which use cases does Cisco see as virtual network overlays offering the most value today?

Question 7 @ 20:59 sec: The perception is that a lot of this SDN stuff is really out in the future? When and how do data center architects start to implement Cisco’s virtual network overlays?

April 16th, 2012

In one of the most candid discussions with Jayshree Ullal, Arista Network’s CEO, she voices her view of Software-Defined Networking as not a market but a set of features. Jayshree views OpenFlow as but one in many APIs becoming available to program layer 2/3 networks. If you’re looking for SDN hype, then no need to listen to this podcast. But if you want a realistic view of this important industry trend, then listen up.

March 19th, 2012

By Arista Networks

Advanced Event Management (AEM) is a powerful and flexible set of tools to automate tasks, customize the behavior of the system and associated operation of the switching infrastructure. Leveraging an open operating system, AEM allows operators to fully utilize the intelligence within EOS to respond to real-time events, automate routine tasks, and take local automated action based on changing network conditions. Simplifying the overall operations, AEM provides the tools to customize alerts and actions. This white paper describes Arista’s approach to Advanced Event Management.

February 28th, 2012

By Arista Networks

Software Defined Cloud Networking (SDCN) is a term often used when a controller external to the forwarding logic and the actual switch itself programs the network devices to alter or enhance the flow of traffic. SDCN can be achieved via standard APIs that several hardware and software architectures intend to support. This white paper describes Arista’s approach to Software Defined Cloud Networking

January 29th, 2012

Computer networking vendors have been increasing the speed and port density of their Ethernet switches while reducing power draw and price per port. But while Ethernet switching hardware marches on linearly, thanks to 10, 40 and 100GbE, networking software is taking a different historical path as the pace of compute and network technology evolution has diverged, with networking lagging. Highly virtualized server deployment has broken traditional networking approaches on multiple levels, for example. In response, the industry is now developing a “virtualized infrastructure” or “stack” to add network flexibility. To close the technology gap, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is promoted as the new “organizing principle” to deliver network software and service value. While it will be, likely, years before SDN’s organizing principles take hold, I propose that these two industry activities are inexplicably linked and phased; here’s why…

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January 10th, 2012

There are a growing number of options to make data center networking more flexible. One option is the use of Edge Virtual Bridging or EVB, which has been standardized in project IEEE 802.1Qbg and championed by IBM, HP, Brocade, QLogic, Emulex and many others. This approach extends the Virtual Ethernet Bridge or VEB sometime called Virtual Ethernet Switch (VES) used by hypervisors to connect VMs to the data center network. Renato Recio, IBM Fellow & System Networking CTO joins me to discuss IBM’s approach to virtual network infrastructure overlays and in particular its support for Edge Virtual Bridging.

January 9th, 2012

During the middle of 2012, a few firms will introduce core switches for campus networking. Many of these products will be based upon merchant silicon such as HP Networking’s A10500 Series Enterprise Core Switch. While these products will boast performance advantage, they will find it difficult to win share against established firms such as Cisco’s Catalyst 6500, thanks to its investment in network services. In this Lippis Report Research Note 184, we explore the importance of network services and their role in campus network design.

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December 20th, 2011

In this Lippis Report Research Note 183, we provide our very popular annual top 10 2012 industry predictions that were provided by Andre Kindness, senior analyst at Forrester Research, Nick Lippis, CEO of Lippis Enterprises, and Zeus Kerravala, principal at ZK Research. We take a look into the year ahead and provide our view as to what will come to pass. This Research Note is based upon the “2012 Networking Industry Predictions” Lippis Report podcast.

The following are our top 10 2012 Networking Industry Predictions.

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December 13th, 2011

The Inflobox plug-in module for VMware’s vCenter Orchestrator promises to bridge network and virtual IT team silos by enabling automated assignment of IP addresses to VMs. The Infloblox plug-in enables IP addresses to be automatically assigned to virtual machines in less than a minute and then constantly monitored and managed, which simplifies troubleshooting, accelerates time to value and offers greater flexibility for the virtual team. Steve Garrison, VP Marketing for Infoblox and I discuss the problems of networking in virtualized environments and how Infoblox’s vCenter plug-in solves them.

December 5th, 2011

The Fall 2011 Open Industry Network Performance and Power Test Report is now available. Since our Spring 2011 test, we added four products from three vendors to the 11 products from eight vendors already tested. We now have data on 15 data center switching products from nine vendors in the new report to be released after Thanksgiving. Our cloud networking test of 10 and 40GbE is now the industry benchmark for cloud networking. In fact, only those companies that are sure of their product(s) enter the test at Ixia’s iSimCity. We found that 40GbE is hard, and thus you have to give credit to the vendors that go through the testing—in this test, those vendors are Extreme Networks, Brocade and Alcatel-Lucent. These firms have high performance data center switching product that is Enterprise and Cloud service provider ready. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we share our the top 10 findings from this round of testing. Lippis Report subscribers can download the 125-page report here, free of charge.

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December 5th, 2011

By IBM

The cloud model isn’t about transforming IT. It’s about reinventing the way organizations do business. Organizations in every industry, regardless of size or geography, are embracing cloud computing as a way to reduce the complexity and costs associated with traditional IT approaches. Organizations that approach cloud in a tactical fashion risk adding complexity and inefficiency (not to mention security exposure) due to fragmentation, redundancy and operating silos. Conversely, organizations that embrace cloud strategically—from a business as well as IT perspective—can capture new business value through innovation, flexibility, speed, integrity and security—while reducing cost and complexity.

To deliver the cloud’s full business value, cloud-enabled data centers require speed, flexibility, cost-effective operation and scalability. This paper discusses the technical and business requirements of cloud computing, focusing on the networking layer of the cloud.