World’s first 25/100 gigabit open ethernet-based switch launches

Canonical is delighted to support the launch of the world’s first 25/100 Gigabit open Ethernet-based switch, being introduced to the market today by Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX). The new switch runs on ‘Snappy’ Ubuntu Core and will offer a new level of flexibility for network environments.

Mellanox is the leading supplier of high-performance, end-to-end interconnect solutions for data center servers and storage systems. It is the pioneer of, Spectrum, the next generation of its Open Ethernet-based switch IC, which overcomes current data center challenges by providing a highly flexible and scalable solution that allows businesses to deploy the hardware-software combinations best suited to meet their unique needs. With Spectrum, Mellanox is the first to offer end-to-end 10/25/40/50 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.

Computing and storage infrastructures have reached a critical point due to the convergence of dozens of industry trends pushing them to the brink as data sets grow exponentially and threatening the unique competitive differentiator of many businesses. Commonly deployed closed-solutions, those that require the use of proprietary hardware-software combinations, leave many organizations unable to optimize their data centers to meet their business needs, making it difficult to garner actionable insights from expanding data sets. Based on the Open Ethernet architecture, Spectrum offers Mellanox’s customers the choice of Application Programming Interface (API) for faster time-to-market and greater flexibility, while also providing industry-leading 25, 50 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet performance, ensuring the data centers can drive their business forward.

“We are forecasting a very strong uptake in 100 Gigabit Ethernet data center switching, with shipments increasing from approximately ten thousand in 2014 to over ten million by 2019,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. “With the introduction of this high-density 100 Gigabit Ethernet switch, Mellanox is in a position to take advantage of the pent-up bandwidth demand in cloud data centers, where it already has had considerable success with its high-speed low-latency adapter products.”

“The need for increased speed and ability to customize data center networks to meet expanding business needs is critical for the modern application-dependent enterprise,” said Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., research director, data center, cloud and SDN at IHS. “Open Ethernet delivering increased network programmability, choice of switch hardware components and switch OS will play an important role within the data center. The Spectrum-based switching and connectivity products from Mellanox will be attractive to enterprises building high performance and scalable data centers.”

As the market leader of scale-out and OpenStack production environments, Canonical welcomes the Spectrum switch innovation from Mellanox. Mellanox shares Canonical’s vision by bringing open-source platforms to its exciting new switching products; both believing that open-software environments enable new network and data center models.

John Zannos, Vice President Alliances and Ecosystem,  Canonical said: “Snappy Ubuntu Core running on Mellanox Spectrum switches enables a new level of flexibility for network environments. Ubuntu Core provides transactional updates with rigorous application isolation. This is the smallest, safest Ubuntu ever, on switches, devices and on the cloud. We welcome Mellanox as an Ubuntu Cloud Partner. Together we will unleash a new wave of developer innovation.”

A Mellanox switch running Snappy Ubuntu Core allows customers the flexibility to run third-party software applications at the top-of-rack, with no vendor lock-in. The open approach that Mellanox has taken with their Spectrum product line is perfectly aligned for Snappy Ubuntu Core.

“With the exponential growth of data, the need for increased bandwidth, flexibility, and scalability becomes a necessity to stay competitive,” said Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “Spectrum, the newest edition to our Open Ethernet switch portfolio, enables our customers and users with the highest flexibility, performance and scalability. With Spectrum, data centers can migrate from 10 to 25, or from 40 to 50 or 100 Gigabit Ethernet, and be able to keep up with the escalating network demands for data retrieval and processing.”