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HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

openswitch.net

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Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#31

Post by technion »

epistasis wrote: post #26
you_eeeeeediot wrote: post #7

Gonna be hard to compete with the likes of Cisco Nexus... I mean after almost 5 years of the Nexus 1000V platform they come to the table with an "open-source" software platform to be used on hardware that no one is currently using? I could see this getting traction if they announced it was compatible with some of the newer switches

The Nexus 1000V is not really in the same category at all. This is a replacement for NX-OS. And honestly, I really don't know how Cisco's Nexus line is going to survive at all. They will coast for a while on the population of Cisco certified engineers that don't want to learn new things, but it is literally cheaper for us to buy new hardware and support contracts than it is to renew our Cisco support contract. And th…

I asked our Cisco representative to offer a competing quote against an HP networking deal, and he responded with a quote for Cisco servers, and Ironport mail filtering.

When I asked him what was going on, he pointed out that he only responds to bids he can win. I told him there were no servers in that opportunity, and he went on to discuss that, from a sales point of view, I have a better chance of pushing servers anyway, than pricing Cisco against HP networking. That's from one of their own guys, and it says a lot.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#32

Post by teacup50 »

mzayats wrote: post #28
epistasis wrote: post #5

The hardware compatibility list is pretty slim at the moment: http://www.openswitch.net/documents/user/hardware-compatibil...

The release today is about opening it up for the community participation. Making sure we release it early and not overbaked. So the community can shape the direction. We wanted to have one real HW platform that would be fully functional + Docker container image, which is being heavily used in the development and CIT. Other Broadcom Trident II/Tomahawk based platforms would be quite easy to support. For other ASICs, w…

Is there a kernel in here somewhere? I'm curious about the BCM hardware interface (and I'm hoping this isn't Linux, but ...)

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#33

Post by tw04 »

ju-st wrote: post #14
ChuckMcM wrote: post #6

This seems like a good, if belated, move on HPs part. Ethernet switches have become trivial to build with off the shelf parts. If you open up the software then you can focus on things like build quality and reliability.

It sounds too good to me. How will they make money in the Ethernet switching sector?

Candidly - their switches in my experience are garbage. They aren't making money, and they know they can't beat Cisco with a traditional approach. If I had to guess they're hoping that opening things up will make them the vendor of choice for enterprises looking to mimic Google/Facebook. This feels like a hail mary with the future of their presence in the network switching space to me.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#34

Post by tw04 »

technion wrote: post #31
epistasis wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nexus 1000V is not really in the same category at all. This is a replacement for NX-OS. And honestly, I really don't know how Cisco's Nexus line is going to survive at all. They will coast for a while on the population of Cisco certified engineers that don't want to learn new things, but it is literally cheaper for us to buy new hardware and support contracts than it is to renew our Cisco support contract. And th…

I asked our Cisco representative to offer a competing quote against an HP networking deal, and he responded with a quote for Cisco servers, and Ironport mail filtering. When I asked him what was going on, he pointed out that he only responds to bids he can win. I told him there were no servers in that opportunity, and he went on to discuss that, from a sales point of view, I have a better chance of pushing servers an…

It says HP is trying to buy market share. That strategy doesn't tend to work well long-term when your shareholders catch on.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#35

Post by epistasis »

tw04 wrote: post #34
technion wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked our Cisco representative to offer a competing quote against an HP networking deal, and he responded with a quote for Cisco servers, and Ironport mail filtering. When I asked him what was going on, he pointed out that he only responds to bids he can win. I told him there were no servers in that opportunity, and he went on to discuss that, from a sales point of view, I have a better chance of pushing servers an…

It says HP is trying to buy market share. That strategy doesn't tend to work well long-term when your shareholders catch on.

I doubt HP is losing a dime on their switch pricing, unless HP is even less efficient than I expect them to be. Other vendors beat HP handily on price with identical hardware specs. Cisco has gotten fat on ridiculous margins, and it's doubtful that they will be able to survive in a marketplace where merchant silicon drives commodity switches.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#37

Post by cenal »

mrmondo wrote: post #36

In my experience HP has never been good at software or networking - that their two weak points. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

I disagree. HP Networking is a great mid market solution.

If you want a bad network solution check out the LG IPECS line of network gear.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#38

Post by wmf »

jeffasinger wrote: post #21
ju-st wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds too good to me. How will they make money in the Ethernet switching sector?

If this becomes the main type of switch, then HP would be in a great position to offer integrations and consulting.

I think that's the explanation for HP's adoption of ODM/OCP. More and more customers are going to buy it, so HP can either get with the program or lose those customers permanently.

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#39

Post by wmf »

teacup50 wrote: post #32
mzayats wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The release today is about opening it up for the community participation. Making sure we release it early and not overbaked. So the community can shape the direction. We wanted to have one real HW platform that would be fully functional + Docker container image, which is being heavily used in the development and CIT. Other Broadcom Trident II/Tomahawk based platforms would be quite easy to support. For other ASICs, w…

Is there a kernel in here somewhere? I'm curious about the BCM hardware interface (and I'm hoping this isn't Linux, but ...)

It's Linux (see [1] for why) and from the git repos it looks like it uses OpenNSL [2] (which is not open source but open in the sense of "this used to be under NDA and now it's not so be grateful we're giving you that much").

[1] http://www.wired.com/2015/09/microsoft-built-linux-everyone-... [2] http://www.broadcom.com/blog/network-infrastructure/inside-o...

Re: HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

#40

Post by voltagex_ »

mzayats wrote: post #28
epistasis wrote: post #5

The hardware compatibility list is pretty slim at the moment: http://www.openswitch.net/documents/user/hardware-compatibil...

The release today is about opening it up for the community participation. Making sure we release it early and not overbaked. So the community can shape the direction. We wanted to have one real HW platform that would be fully functional + Docker container image, which is being heavily used in the development and CIT. Other Broadcom Trident II/Tomahawk based platforms would be quite easy to support. For other ASICs, w…

So I'm guessing this gear is well out of the range of the hobbyist hacker? Is there a virtualized one I can play with instead?
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