The Lippis Report

July 27th, 2010

In Lippis Report 151: A Two or Three Tier High-End Data Center Ethernet Fabric Architecture? we detailed the new two tier data center Ethernet fabric that is becoming conventional wisdom amongst business leaders of high end data centers and cloud computing service providers. The networking industry is headed for a major innovation and competitive cycle fueled by a multi-billion dollar addressable market for data center network fabrics. Over the last eighteen months, every major Ethernet infrastructure provider has announced or taken a position on two tier network fabrics for high-end data centers. Companies such as Cisco, Arista Networks, Force10, Voltaire, HP/3Com, Juniper, Extreme, Brocade, BLADE Network Technology, et al have announced network fabrics for data centers with two thousand and more servers that either support storage enablement or not. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we review why it is Ethernet that will be the network fabric of high performance computing or HPC and cloud computing deployments.

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July 13th, 2010

In the Lippis Report Research Note 150, we discussed the new industry group called Unified Communications Interoperability Forum or UNIF and compared it to other industry consortium charted to deliver interoperable solutions. While interoperability is sorely needed in the UC industry, it looks like Microsoft killed its changes of broad industry success before it started. What I hear from both UCIF members and non-members is that UCIF is controlled by Microsoft, and thus, lacks a large cross section of industry players as well as major UC providers. With its current structure, UCIF will make limited headway on its charter. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we review UCIF and its’ opportunities.
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June 30th, 2010

It hasn’t been since the mid 1990s that the networking industry was focused on multi-protocol integration or convergence. The industry is gearing up for a major innovation and competitive cycle fueled by the multi-billion dollar addressable market for data center network fabrics. Over the last eighteen months, every major Ethernet infrastructure provider has been talking about two and three tier network fabrics for high-end data centers. Companies such as Cisco, Arista Networks, HP/3Com, Force10, Voltaire, Extreme, Brocade, Juniper et al have announced network fabrics for data centers with five thousand and more servers with and without storage enablement. Juniper talks of a one-tier fabric through their Project Stratus work with IBM to be available some time in the future. Brocade recently introduced its’ Brocade One, which is a converged data center fabric. Cisco just launched its’ FabricPath Switching System or FSS for the Nexus 7000 that enables massive scale of a two-tier fabric. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we review the architectural attributes of two and three tier network fabrics and review FSS and its accompanying F-Series 10GbE module.

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June 30th, 2010

Unified communications is becoming an integration point for traditional dial tone, FAX, video and messaging as it adds increased access and functionality to these important forms of communications. Sagemcom is by far the industry leader in IP FAX, having successfully integrated FAX capability into Cisco, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft’s UC platforms.  Its’ XmediusFAX has proven to reduced cost, increase access and security of FAX communications.  In this Lippis Report podcast, I talk with Bob Wood, Executive Director at Sagemcom, about how FAX communications can be integrated into the UC platform of your choice and the business outcomes it delivers.

June 14th, 2010

In mid May of this year HP, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Logitech / LifeSize and Polycom established a forum to develop a set of interoperability test methodologies and certification programs along with specifications and guidelines that enable mixed vendor Unified Communications UC solutions to work with each other. In short, the UC Interoperability Forum or UCIF is trying to define what it means for multi-vendor UC implementations to interoperate. Since its establishment, membership has grown by thirteen vendors, but blaringly obvious is the omission of Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, ShoreTel and other major UC providers. This begs the question of motivation. Is the UCIF interested in interoperability or changing the market landscape to gain advantage on the established leaders? In this Lippis Report Research Note we explore this question.

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May 31st, 2010

In Lippis Report 148 we reviewed the major drivers and trends that are propelling the high-end data center Ethernet switch market to well over a $1B annual run rate. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we review the major suppliers of these switches. We review Cisco, Arista Networks Force10 Networks, BLADE Network Technologies, HP/3Com/H3C, Voltaire, Avaya, Brocade, and Juniper and identify their unique positions and offerings to participants in the burgeoning market. Our focus is the high-end, high density 10GbE switches that are enabling virtualized cloud computing data centers thanks to Terabits per second of back plane switching capacity, billions of packets per second of layer 2/3 forwarding, hundreds of 10GbE port connectivity per chassis, a new two-tier architecture, microsecond level latency, low power consumption, non-stop operation and software hooks that eliminate network barriers to large scale server virtualization. The engineering in these switches should be celebrated, as they represent the state-of-the-art in computer and network design. In short, they represent the fundamental building block of a new generation of IT delivery based upon cloud computing and virtualization. This Research Note is a must read for any IT executive designing a data center.

After finishing this Research Note, it became evident that this market needs a set of industry neural 10GbE switch test to independently verify vendor claims. We hope to make such a contribution this Fall.
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May 31st, 2010

By Aberdeen Group

With so many potential points of contact: desk phones, soft phones, voice messaging, e-mail, video conferencing, texting, social media, mobile devices etc., how can we ever actually be reached within a reasonable timeframe? How does UC transform an organization’s communications infrastructure, improve efficiency, optimize work processes, and provide for business continuity and compliance? To find out, in February and March 2010, Aberdeen Group surveyed 184 organizations in more then 28 countries around the world. This paper is the result of that effort.

Find out what Aberdeen learned by downloading this whitepaper.

May 17th, 2010

During last week’s Cisco Q3 FY10 quarterly financial conference call, John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO, said something that impressed and shocked me. The company has been quiet about the growth rates for its Nexus line of data center switches until this call. What shocked me was that the Nexus 7000 is now on an annualized run rate of $1B, yes that’s Billion with a B! I remember being interviewed by John Markoff of the NY Times in Jan ’08 about the Cisco’s Nexus and Juniper’s yet to be announced Ethernet switches. In just 27 short months, the Nexus product line including the 7000, 5000 and 2000 represents a $1.4 B run rate of revenue to Cisco. Another insight gained from this ramp up is that the data center networking trends that we’ve discussed here in various Lippis Report Research Notes are powerful demand drivers for Cisco and other companies participating in this lucrative emerging market and its just starting! Companies such as Arista Networks, Force10 Networks, Blade Network Technologies, HP/3Com/H3C, Voltaire, Avaya, Brocade, Juniper, et al, have unique positions and offerings to participants in the burgeoning market. In this Lippis Report Research Note, we review the mega trends driving high market growth. We save a product review of each of the suppliers for our next Lippis Report Research Note.

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May 17th, 2010

By Arista Networks

Extensibility is a system design principle where the implementation of the operating system takes into consideration future growth. It is a systemic measure of the ability to extend the operating system and the level of effort required to implement the extension. Extensions can involve the addition of new functionality or the modification of existing functionality.

Find out how Arista’s Network Operating System EoS improves system uptime and delivers rapid service restoration in the event of failure by downloading this whitepaper.

May 17th, 2010

There is huge growth in video traffic on corporate networks thanks primarily to on-demand video clips and increasingly video collaboration, TelePresence, video surveillance and Digital Signage. But how do IT business leaders support the various forms of video on their corporate networks before a video tsunami wreaks havoc to network performance?  Also how do IT business leaders deliver a good video experience to a wide range of endpoints such as low bandwidth remote offices, mobile smartphones, WiFi connected laptops etc?  Tere’ Bracco, Senior Marketing Manager for Network Systems and Security at Cisco, joins me to discuss Cisco’s Medianet technologies that offer an approach to managing and delivering video services over corporate IP networks. 

Find out by listening to this podcast.

May 3rd, 2010

This past Interop in Las Vegas was one of the best I have attended, since even before the economy took a noise dive in 2008. The tone and level of excitement of the industry’s growth potential was refreshingly up beat from the hundreds of IT and vendor executives I talked with. While the size of Interop is a small fraction of what it was in the late 1990s, (70k attendees with over 600 exhibitors to ~ 15K attendees with ~ 200 exhibitors) it still provides a pulse of the networking industry. In fact, Interop has come full circle, back to being a networking event even though it has added other topics. You have to give Dan Lynch credit for creating such a long lasting venue for our industry. Congratulations to Cisco, Arista Networks, HP/3Com, Mallonx for winning best of show in their respective categories and for Arista for winning Best of Interop. In this Lippis Report Research Note I provide the key industry themes that were evident at Interop this year.

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May 3rd, 2010

By opusresearch

Disparate modes call for disparate measures. Avaya’s new unified communications architecture, Avaya Aura, supports self-service (based on the Voice Portal) and intelligent routing over IP and hybrid networks. Cross-channel interactions are coordinated by a new “Session Manager” function. This white paper provides an analyst view of Avaya’s Aura architecture.

Read it now by downloading this paper.

May 3rd, 2010

By Arista Networks

Can Ethernet compete with Infiniband in the low-latency trading and high performance computing markets? Administrators and IT professionals face a choice when deciding whether to invest in Infiniband or Ethernet for their low-latency networks. This paper addresses many of the characteristics of Infiniband that have made their way into Ethernet.

To learn more, download the Arista Networks whitepaper.

May 3rd, 2010

By Cisco Systems
This white paper addresses the RF interference challenges that result from high usage of a shared spectrum. It explores the limitations of standard Wi-Fi chip design and how this affects the ability of an IT organization to gather critical, actionable data about the wireless spectrum for effective troubleshooting. Finally, it introduces Cisco® CleanAir technology and explains how by integrating RF intelligence into the network, users gain tremendous insight into actual usage of the wireless spectrum. This insight is critical to proactively managing Wi-Fi networks to support mission-critical and latency-sensitive applications needed in today’s hospitals, distributed enterprises, manufacturing sites, retail stores, and offices.

To learn more, download the Cisco whitepaper.