Juniper Networks this week unveiled a new access switch supporting 25/50G Ethernet as well as an open version of its Junos operating system for it.
Juniper says it disaggregated Junos so it can enable third-party application and service support, and enhanced programmability. Disaggregation is the industry practice of breaking the dependencies of hardware and software on each other so they can be sold independently, giving customers more choice in what they purchase and operate.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco this week said it would acquire security vendor Lancope for $452.5 million to bolster its threat visibility portfolio for enterprise networks.Lancope specializes in network behavior analytics, threat visibility and security intelligence. Its StealthWatch product is designed to continuously monitor the enterprise network and identify suspicious traffic patterns to detect attacks.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Cisco plans to embed security everywhere+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Is Padmasree Warrior in line to take a seat on Microsoft’s board? She’s been nominated, along with Sandra Peterson, group worldwide chairman of health products giant Johnson & Johnson. Cisco
Padmasree Warrior, Cisco's former chief technology and strategy officer.
Warrior was Cisco’s CTO and chief strategy officer and was one of the executives swept out shortly after new CEO Chuck Robbins was tapped to succeed John Chambers. Warrior was highly visible, always keynoting a Cisco or industry trade show and conference, and is omnipresent on Twitter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Juniper Networks has reportedly hired investment banker Goldman Sachs to explore taking the company private.The development has the blessing of activist investor Elliott Management, according to the website Benzinga. Elliott owns 4.5% of Juniper and has encouraged the company to look for ways boost shareholder value through restructurings and product portfolio rationalization.Juniper did reorganize last year at the urging of Elliott after multiple quarters of lackluster performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week reportedly agreed to consider the validity of two Cisco patents at issue in litigation with data center switching rival Arista Networks.The development boosted Arista stock by over 5% on Tuesday, Oct. 6, according to Bloomberg. Cisco is suing Arista for copyright and patent infringement, and is seeking an injunction on the sale of Arista products that allegedly infringe on the Cisco patents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco this week says it disabled a distributor of the Angler ransomware exploit kit, a program that holds victim machines hostage via encryption.The catch disrupted a global ransomware operation that netted $60 million annually for the perpetrators, Cisco states in a blog post.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Jane Austen lets the boogie man in: Cisco report+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Arista Networks this week extended its controller software with the ability to activate firewalls and application delivery controllers for workloads and workflows across its switches.The company’s Macro-Segmentation Services (MSS) is a feature of the company’s CloudVision software, which maintains a database of network state. MSS works across Layer 2 and 3 topologies and network virtualization overlays to insert security services for data centers with physical and virtualized workloads, extending the separate capabilities of virtualization hypervisors with micro-segmentation, and physical firewalls.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AT&T has added Juniper Networks’ controller to its SDN. Juniper’s Contrail controller will provide SDN control of AT&T’s Integrated Cloud infrastructure.AT&T will use Contrail to help automate and virtualize the network for deployment of new services. AT&T is also using Brocade’s Vyatta controller in its Network on Demand service.Juniper says Contrail is based on its Open Contrail open source software, and allows AT&T to incorporate new capabilities into its network while decreasing development time and cost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco Systems has made another investment in a chip supplier it’s been funding since 2005.Cisco Investments contributed to Aquantia’s $37 million Series H funding, joining new investors Credit Suisse’s Direct Equity Partners, Global Foundries, and Walden Riverwood. Aquantia, which employs 160 people, has raised a total of $199 million since its first round of funding in 2005.Cisco has participated in each round, Aquantia says.Aquantia make PHY chips for copper-based 10GBASE-T and multigigabit 2.5G/5G Ethernet networks for enterprise, data center and mobile applications. Cisco is the leading vendor in these markets, and in Ethernet networking overall.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HP is spearheading multivendor development of an open source network operating system for data centers in an effort to address scale, dynamic operation and vendor independence.HP is banding together with three other hardware companies and a hypervisor vendor to launch the OpenSwitch Community, which will seek community-like participation in the development of a Linux-based OpenSwitch NOS. The other participants are Intel, Broadcom, Accton and VMware.Though the community lacks a pure operating system vendor, HP says it has plenty of OS and NOS expertise to lend OpenSwitch credibility in that regard. VMware also provides software-based network virtualization and control experience through its NSX product line and developers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HP is spearheading multivendor development of an open source network operating system for data centers in an effort to address scale, dynamic operation and vendor independence.HP is banding together with three other hardware companies and a hypervisor vendor to launch the OpenSwitch Community, which will seek community-like participation in the development of a Linux-based OpenSwitch NOS. The other participants are Intel, Broadcom, Accton and VMware.Though the community lacks a pure operating system vendor, HP says it has plenty of OS and NOS expertise to lend OpenSwitch credibility in that regard. VMware also provides software-based network virtualization and control experience through its NSX product line and developers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco pedigreesNumerous tech companies have been founded over the years by former Cisco big shots and lower-level employees, with many a venture capitalist no doubt attracted by these entrepreneurs’ Cisco pedigrees. Some of the companies have gone on to be successful on their own, others were acquired, and others just failed. Here’s a look at some of these companies (listed alphabetically).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco pedigreesNumerous tech companies have been founded over the years by former Cisco big shots and lower-level employees, with many a venture capitalist no doubt attracted by these entrepreneurs’ Cisco pedigrees. Some of the companies have gone on to be successful on their own, others were acquired, and others just failed. Here’s a look at some of these companies (listed alphabetically).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco this week said it intends to purchase Portcullis, a privately held cybersecurity consultancy based in the United Kingdom.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Cisco security chief: 4 things CISOs need to survive+ Cisco
James Mobley, Cisco vice president of security solutionsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dell this week expanded its campus and data center switching lineup with products designed simplify topologies and support new data rates.In the campus, Dell unveiled the C9010 Network Director switch and the C1048P Rapid Access Node. These new switches are intended to flatten network topologies into two tiers but with logical connectivity to make those two tiers appear as one.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Dell celebrates disaggregation’s first anniversary+The switches are based on Broadcom’s Trident II silicon, which incorporates a tagging mechanism for node-to-director connectivity and virtual grouping into a single management and administrative domain. Dell says this provides a single management view from access to core, and a single point of control for quality of service, policy provisioning, software upgrades, and programming software-defined attributes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Arista Networks this week became the latest major vendor to roll data center switches that support 25G, 50G and 100Gbps Ethernet.Arista also upgraded its operating system software to support the new switches and give them a number of new features to enhance uptime, and avoid resets and reloads.The new Arista 7060X, 7260X and 7320X fixed-leaf and modular spineswitches are based on Broadcom’s Tomahawk chipset. Tomahawk silicon delivers 3.2Tbps switching capacity – 32 100G ports -- and SDN-optimized engines in a single chip, and features all-25G per-lane interconnect, enabling transformation to 25G and 50G Ethernet networks and eventually up to 100G.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A key but quiet component of Cisco’s “open” data center operating system is the ability to build applications and microservices via Linux containers.It’s not a new capability but an increasingly important one for making – and marketing – Cisco’s NX-OS as “open,” a campaign that began in June. Open NX-OS includes object store and model driven RESTful and XML/JSON API support in the NX-API; native third-party application integration of Puppet, Chef and Ganglia, among others; a software developer’s kit for application integration; and Linux utilities support for tool integration across compute and network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Chuck Robbins is officially the chief executive officer of Cisco, but that doesn’t mean he’s totally in charge.Several sources inside and outside of Cisco say the company’s star engineers and key innovators – Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain and Luca Cafiero – continue to report to former CEO John Chambers, who became the executive chairman of Cisco July 26 when Robbins succeeded him. The three, along with marketer Soni Jiandani, founded three companies funded and then acquired by Cisco under its “spin-in” model to insert it into new or disruptive markets, like storage area networking, data center switching and SDNs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HP this week unveiled networking products aligned with its strategy to disaggregate hardware and software, opening up choices for its customers.HP is introducing two new branded bare metal switches based on the Accton AS5712-54X. HP and Accton revealed their partnership in February.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Enterprise disaggregation is inevitable+The first switch is the Altoline 5712, a 10G switch, and the second is the Altoline 6712, a 40G switch. Both are powered by Intel’s Atom CPU.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco has issued software to fix a vulnerability in its SDN controller than allows infiltrators to access the system as root users, with access to root commands.Access to root commands would enable an attacker to access all commands and files on the controller. With that access, the attacker can then modify the system in any way desired, including granting and revoking access permissions for other users, including root users.A vulnerability in the cluster management configuration of Cisco’s Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) and Nexus 9000 switch in Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) mode could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to access the APIC as the root user, according to a recently issued Cisco security advisory. The vulnerability is due to improper implementation of access controls in the APIC filesystem, the advisory states.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Jim Duffy