Pica8 Crossflow Networking

In an article posted earlier on sdntesting.com entitled "Using The Brocade Vyatta Controller - Part 1", we mentioned the use of Pica8's Crossflow Networking mode.  Crossflow Networking is a technology from Pica8 that allows switch interfaces to operate in both L2/L3 mode and still harness the flexibility of OpenFlow. Some simple examples: A customer wants to maintain acce … [Read more...]

Network Hardware and SDN

How Does SDN Fit Into The Virtual Data Center? One thing that needs to be cleared up is the definition of  Network or Networking Hardware.  In the definition of SDN from ONF they discuss the decoupling of the Control and Data Plane with the Data Plane being defined as Network Hardware.  Here is where things can get confusing. What is Network Hardware? Wikipedia says the fo … [Read more...]

The Cisco Cloud Router Story

Cloud Router : Cisco Now that VMWorld is over, there is a lot of industry buzz about VMWare, Nicira, Vyatta, Cisco and the Cloud Router in the networking space.  Cisco had previously released the virtual Nexus 1000v switch, which provides a more flexible way to handle inter machine connectivity and the virtual ASA 1000v firewall.  While the Cloud Service Router CSR 1000v had be … [Read more...]

Cisco 7200 VXR Replacements

History of the Cisco 7200 The Cisco 7200 Series routers have been at the Enterprise Edge for almost two decades.  Even though the first 7200 Series router came out in 1996.  Cisco has kept the 7200 Series routers up to date by releasing a new chassis (The 7200VXR in 2002) and continuing to release new Network Processing Engines (NPEs). The current NPE-G2 processor (released … [Read more...]

Huawei vs Cisco vs Juniper Cheat Sheet

Huawei vs Cisco vs Juniper - Part 1: The Core Router Analysis has worked on a lot of deals where Huawei is one of the bidding vendors and the client asks us for a comparison: Huawei vs Cisco vs Juniper.  Router Analysis has done enough testing with all three vendors to give a comprehensive answer.  Here is an overview of the Huawei products and the comparable Cisco and Juniper … [Read more...]

Cisco 3750 vs 3560 What’s The Difference?

Cisco 3750 vs 3560 What is the difference between the Cisco 3750 and 3560?  What about the 3750E vs 3750X?  These question comes from clients time and time again.  Here are the answers you need. The main difference is that the 3750 supports Cisco StackWise, i.e. creating one large virtual switch out of multiple chassis.  The 3560 has a "cluster" feature which while it soun … [Read more...]

The TOR space is getting crowded, With Density

The top of the rack has long be the location of important networking devices in the datacenter.  Generally held for a small switch or console server, it has recently become it's own space in the market, with leaders like Cisco, Juniper and Huawei vying for it. Huawei: Recently Huawei released the CloudEngine 6800 Series giving 48 10GE and 4 40GE ports in 1U.  Thats a very … [Read more...]