OpenSwitch: Exciting Stuff
It was about a month ago that HP (along with several partners) announced OpenSwitch, a new network OS for white box switching hardware.This week, HPE brought OpenSwitch Chief Architect Michael Zayats to present to TFDx delegates at the ONUG conference. I was fortunate to be one of these delegates and the usual disclaimers apply.
What is OpenSwitch?
It's an open source network OS for whitebox switching platforms. The code is open, and so is the development process. They're actively encouraging people to get involved. Coordination is done over IRC, bug tracking is open, documentation is available for edit, etc... Open. Open. Open.
Who is behind OpenSwitch?
Well, first there's the vendor consortium. To a large degree, it's that new company with the boxy logo: HPE. They employ the chief architect and a handful of developers. There are some other vendors, notably Broadcom (without whom this couldn't happen because of their NDA policies around silicon drivers), switch manufacturers (ODMs), etc...
Also of critical importance are the users: There are already some large end-user companies playing with, using, and contributing to OpenSwitch.
Wait how many OSes is HPE shipping/supporting now?
Yeah... Awkward! That's a couple of versions of Comware, Provision, Continue reading