Dell announces open source networking solutions for data centres

Enterprise technology and compute devices manufacturer Dell Technologies has announced open source networking solutions for simplifying data centre operations and management.

Called Enterprise SONiC Distribution, the platform removes complexities and creates an agile and flexible network by following an approach built on open standards, according to a statement. Data centre networking is gaining importance at a time when enterprises are increasingly moving to a hybrid cloud that calls for seamless networking between data centres.

SONiC (software for open networking in the cloud) is an open source networking switch operating system project spearheaded by Microsoft to remove complexities and inefficiencies created by proprietary approach.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company said that with these new solutions, cloud providers and large enterprises will now have a new level of production-tested tools, services and support that had previously required significant internal investment technology support teams. This also gives customers support for full-stack solutions with enterprise capabilities and functionality, it added.

"A hybrid cloud approach is critical to customers' success, but they struggle to maintain and scale their networks and manage them to effectively avoid multiple points of failure,” Tom Burns, senior vice president and general manager for Dell Technologies integrated products and solutions division, said.

According to Dell, it has integrated SONiC into the company's open networking hardware, Dell EMC PowerSwitch. By breaking switch software into multiple, containerised components, Dell is helping enterprises to simplify the management of big and complex networks while increasing the availability in a cloud model, it said in a media statement.

Previously, enterprises that lacked the resources to adopt open source solutions also lost the ability to take advantage of flexible, open source architectures.

Dell said that it provided a broad selection of open network operating systems, giving customers the ability to choose the hardware and software platform that best suits their priorities and take advantage of the benefits of open source innovation without sacrificing support or security and eases of integration into their own IT environments.

Yousef Khalidi, corporate vice president of networking at Microsoft's cloud platform Azure said that Dell’s enterprise support to their customers will bring an efficient cloud networking software.

Last month, Dell had rolled out a financial relief package to help its partners preserve capital and cut costs by making a one-time cash payout of up to 50% from the clients’ market development fund and business development fund balances.