Press Releases
2010
Force10 Networks Applies Ockham’s Razor to Simplify Network Management; Unveils a Standards-Based, Open Approach to Network Automation
Force10’s Open Automation initiative aims to transform data center infrastructure into a streamlined, efficient and policy-driven cloud computing fabric
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 22, 2010 – Force10 Networks, Inc., the global technology leader that data center, enterprise and service provider customers rely on when the network is their business, today introduced its Open Automation initiative. The initiative represents a streamlined, standards-based approach to network automation that optimizes data center network performance and efficiency, and lays the foundation for cloud-based services. In developing its Open Automation initiative, Force10 applied Ockham's razor – the 14th century meta-theoretical principle that “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity” – concluding that the simplest solution is usually the correct one.
Building upon the company’s proven Virtualization Framework, the Open Automation initiative leverages new “open” elements within the modular Force10 Operating System (FTOS) software that streamline the data center network fabric’s ability to participate in automated, policy-driven, real-time workload allocation in response to changing application and service demands.
“The truly dynamic data center is only possible when server, storage and network provisioning and management can be automated and linked to hypervisor/workload management,” says Joe Skorupa, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. “Open, standards-based protocols promise to simplify this activity in multi-vendor environments, which lowers costs and improves availability.”
Force10 Shapes the Future of Virtualized, Automated Data Centers
Open Automation was created to empower customers to orchestrate network management and configuration tasks throughout the data center infrastructure and provide dynamic allocation of network resources to increase employee productivity, minimize human error and accelerate the network’s responsiveness to resource needs. In a concerted effort to minimize complexity, the open component to this Force10 initiative relies on using common scripting languages and standards-based protocols as the means for exchanging updates and status between FTOS-- which runs on Force10’s switch/routers--and hypervisors, virtual switches, middleware or orchestration tools and database applications. The Force10 Open Automation initiative leverages the company’s extensive Technology Alliance Partner Program that today includes more than 25 data center-related technology partners.
“The Open Automation initiative from Force10 Networks represents a new technological and economic approach to creating and maintaining optimum network behavior,” says Cindy Borovick, research vice president, IDC. “This automated approach, coupled with standards-based management, provisioning and automation tools, shows considerable promise in helping data centers deliver tangible business solutions, including on-demand performance, rapid service delivery and lower management and power/cooling costs.”
Open Automation Extends the Virtualization Framework and Leverages Common Tools
The Open Automation initiative extends the scope of the Force10 Virtualization Framework, which provides a suite of management and architectural tools that promote greater efficiency and agility within the data center. Together, automation tools and virtualization technologies provide the foundation for dynamic data centers by aligning compute resources with resource needs.
"Physical networking constraints and manual operations are making networking a bottleneck in the transition to cloud computing," says Jon Oltsik, principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Force 10's Open Automation initiative is a giant step in the right direction as it can align dynamic data center changes with network configuration and policies. With open standards as a foundation, the Open Automation initiative should appeal to users focused on IT effectiveness rather than vendor lock-in.”
Force10’s Open Automation introduces hyperlink and switchlink, two new software features implemented within FTOS. The hyperlink feature provides real-time communication between the Force10 network fabric and hypervisors or virtual switches to enable, for example, the automatic reprovisioning of one or many virtual LANs (VLANs) across multiple switches simultaneously. The switchlink feature provides real-time communication with middleware orchestration tools to enable automatic provisioning and management of virtual devices anywhere in the network.
Working with Industry Partners to Promote Open Automation into the Data Center
“Force10’s Open Automation initiative is significant because data center managers will have the opportunity to leverage standards-based network automation and virtualization tools and take a simplified approach that reduces the complexity of initiating a network automation project. This, in turn, allows them to complete this task with fewer resources, while still enjoying the complete, business-tuned solution that contributes to the acceleration or differentiation of their business,” says Tom Baehr, vice president of solutions, Agilysys.
“Server virtualization has delivered dramatic data center ROI by boosting the utilization of CPU and memory resources,” says Thomas Ludwig, CEO, TBD Networks. “An open, standards-based automation framework is key to extending this ROI impact to LAN, SAN and storage resources by enabling their dynamic allocation to fluctuating business priorities and the use of best-of-breed technology.”
“Our Open Automation initiative responds to the fundamental shift today where data centers are being called upon to provide resourced agility and increased efficiency to drive down related fixed and management costs,” says Stephen Garrison, vice president of marketing, Force10 Networks. “We believe our initiative applies the old-world wisdom of the Ockham’s razor theory to the virtualized data center of tomorrow by offering the simplest approach to automating network management in the data center since it relies on common scripting languages and standards-based protocols that enable customers to leverage existing skill sets and eliminate the need to learn a new set of software development tools.”
About Force10 Networks
Force10 Networks develops high-performance data center solutions powered by the industry’s most innovative line of open, standards-based, networking hardware and software. The company’s Open Cloud Networking framework grants Web 2.0/portal operators, cloud and hosting providers, enterprise and special-purpose data center customers new levels of flexibility, performance, scale and automation—fundamentally changing the economics of data center networking. Force10 Networks operates globally, providing 24x7 service and support to its customer base in more than 60 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.force10networks.com.
Contact:
Michael Schoolnik
StoryPR on behalf of Force10 Networks Inc.
+1 415-674-3816
michael@storypr.com
Force10 Networks, the Force10 Networks logo, Force10, E-Series, Traverse, and TraverseEdge are registered trademarks and Open Cloud Networking, Z-Series, ZettaScale, ExaScale, S-Series, TeraScale, FTOS, Open Automation, are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc. All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.
