Dell Active Fabric Controller, a new purpose-built SDN platform supporting Openflow and efforts to accelerate Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), is designed to simply and securely configure and deploy networking functionality in cloud and XaaS environments. The controller is targeted for enterprise OpenStack deployments and as an optional component of Dell OpenStack-Powered cloud solutions.
According to Dell, it is helping to bring innovative NFV solutions to market by spearheading industry consortiums such as CloudNFV and collaborating with industry partners including Red Hat.
“Dell is committed to changing the game in networking. As a follow on to our recent Open Networking announcement, I’m excited about demonstrating more innovation in bringing new and open solutions to our customers regardless of size,” said Tom Burns, vice president and general manager, Dell Networking. “We’re extending our leadership in SDN, NFV, and advanced new architectures that maximize customer choice and provide superior economics to the way networking has always been done.”
"As technology has advanced, fixed-form-factor solutions have proven lower cost, lower latency with a higher degree of reliability,” said Shane Stakem, senior director – Network Operations, Joyent Inc. “We have become believers that the spine and leaf fabric design, which Dell Networking has based on open standards, is not only here to stay but, in fact, has a substantial advantage over competing solutions such as proprietary lock-in fabrics."
"Scale-out and cloud data centers are leading the transition to a more programmable, software-driven network infrastructure,” said John Fruehe, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Dell's experience in these areas, along with its strong emphasis on a standards-based approach, can be seen in these new networking products. This brings the agile benefits of these next-generation workloads to the mainstream, so businesses can drive down their network and management costs."
“OpenStack and SDN represent transformative technologies,” said Radhesh Balakrishnan, general manager, Virtualization and OpenStack, Red Hat. “Red Hat is deeply committed to delivering an enterprise-ready OpenStack, accelerating adoption of SDN and creating an open foundation for NFV. By collaborating with Dell, we’re taking the hard work out of SDN in OpenStack for customers.”
