Pluribus Networks Brings Server-Switch Paradigm into Broader Commercial Market
Pluribus Networks is bringing the benefits of the evolving server-switch architectural paradigm to the broader enterprise and cloud provider markets at white-box price-points. This breakthrough is enabled through an arrangement with Arrow Electronics, Inc., who will now supply the Pluribus-branded E-68 Server-Switch that combines off-the-shelf Broadcom Trident II switch chips with industry-standard Intel Xeon server-class, multi-core processors in a 1RU top-of-rack form-factor.
The Pluribus Freedom Server-Switch architecture developed over the last four years has been validated by the recent Facebook ‘Wedge’ announcement, which combines switching and compute into a modular and open top-of-rack form-factor platform. The Pluribus E-Series based on open off-the-shelf technologies while leveraging the Pluribus Netvisor network hypervisor is in fact the first broadly available server-switch in this new category of SDN platforms, unlocking the disruptive potential of new networking business models, while poised to adopt the OCP architecture in the future.
“Pluribus has pioneered the idea of bringing networking and computing much closer together by leveraging open source software and off-the-shelf component technologies,” said Jacob Loveless, CEO of Lucera, a New York-based on-demand infrastructure provider for financial trading and exchanges. “We believe this model is the next evolution in network infrastructure.”
Under the Arrow arrangement, customers can order directly from the distributor a turnkey offering with the Pluribus Netvisor pre-installed on the server-switches at a street price point starting at $100 per 10 GE port. The offering goes well beyond traditional single-box L2/3 switching to provide multi-rack fabric-wide unified virtual/physical computing analytics, network virtualization and single point of management across the entire network.
“We have been tracking Pluribus’ progress in the SDN space and we heard positive feedback from customers at the Open Networking User Group (ONUG) conference last month,” said Nicholas Lippis, industry analyst and ONUG co-founder and co-chairman board member. “I can also say that the recent Facebook top-of-the-rack server-switch announcement validates where innovative startups such as Pluribus are heading. An open architecture that marries required top-of-rack economics with sophisticated fabric and analytics capabilities via Netvisor is extremely appealing to both partners and users looking to more effectively manage their network.”
“Pluribus Netvisor offers a truly differentiated platform, balancing economics with a powerful network hypervisor, fabric-cluster and deep fabric-wide visibility,” said Brian Armstrong, vice president of Arrow’s original equipment manufacturer computing solutions business. “We look forward to working with Pluribus and offer a solution that uniquely spans the data center and is based on interoperability and open-source technology.”
Additionally, Pluribus announced two new F-Series network computing appliance bundles, one focused on advanced analytics and the other on cloud orchestration. The Cloud Services Bundle runs the complete Red Hat Enterprise Linux – OpenStack Platform and includes the necessary storage to maintain the image store for a typical cloud deployment. It is also designed for future NFV support. The Cloud Analytics Bundle supports cloud-scale analytics and includes more than 800 GB of high-speed flash storage for persistent storage of logs. Both platforms include the Netvisor Advanced-SDF license.
In February, Pluribus launched the Freedom architecture with Netvisor, and in May, it extended this capability ‘in-rack’ by announcing availability of the Netvisor on Supermicro’s MicroBlade chassis with integrated, converged switching. With the Arrow relationship, Pluribus is now further tracking the compute and storage pricing evolution.
