Arista Networks, one of the quiet success stories of Silicon Valley co-founded by legendary engineer Andy Bechtolsheim has hired Michael Lehman, formerly of Palo Alto Networks as its CFO. It has added Cisco’s SDN guru Tom Black to its team already chock-a-block with engineering heavyweights. Read more »
The software-defined networking (SDN) market is expected to soar in size to $2 billion by 2016, according to IDC. Growth this fast may very well signify that SDN is the third epoch of computer networking, creating vendor discontinuities and a new IT order. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Discussions about the cloud now involve more than just the IT department. New developments in hardware architectures, more-energy-efficient data centers, regulatory concerns and simplifying analytics are all discussions currently circling through the industry. Here’s what to consider when thinking about your business in the cloud. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cisco in an internal memo outlined its plans for the changing nature of networking. It also acknowledged a $100 million investment in Insieme, a company started by three Cisco executives and that it can buy it for upto $750 million. Read the memo & what it means. Read more »
The normally staid and somewhat boring world of networking equipment focused startups is become a hotly contested minefield — thanks to the newest kid on the blog, Insiemi, a company started by Cisco veterans. Their hiring tactics have got rivals such as Arista Network hopping mad. Read more »
Cloud computing consultancy Cloudscaling is realigning its business around the open-source OpenStack framework, and it has a message for the world: If you want to use open-source software but operate like Amazon Web Services, we’re your man. Read more »
The GigaOM RoadMap conference on Nov. 10 gathered leaders and visionaries to discuss how, thanks to technological and generational shifts, society as a whole is becoming more connected — not only in the media we consume and the social networks we use but also in the way we interact with devices and manage our resources. This research note takes a look back on the event in order to analyze this new era of connectivity across various industries, from Jack Dorsey’s idea of becoming “more human,” not less, to the concept of “invisible technology” and data, the fuel of the new century. Companies mentioned in this report include Airbnb, Netflix and Twitter. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
IBM is the latest amongst a growing list of hardware makers to release networking gear based on the OpenFlow network protocol. A new 10 GigE switch is going to target cloud/ datacenter markets and compete aggressively with rivals that would include HP and Cisco. Read more »
We are adding two new speakers — Andy Bechtolsheim and Drew Houston — to our lineup for the GigaOM RoadMap, our conference that will look at how connectedness changes everything from how we live, work, create and consume. It is being held on November 10 in San Francisco. Read more »
It is fashionable to obsesses about the web startup phenomenons and forget old fashioned Silicon Valley startups – ones that makes hardware, writes software and along the way clocks in hundreds of millions in sales and profits. And like everything good it takes time to build one. Read more »
VMware this morning announced VXLAN, the company’s attempt to allow virtual machines to span geographical data centers as part of the same LAN. Herrod said it will create “software-based networks that can be created on-demand, enabling enterprises to leverage capacity wherever it’s available.” Read more »
BigSwitch was one of 10 companies launching at our Structure 2011 conference last week, but it’s also riding a sea change in the networking world. I chatted briefly with BigSwitch cofounders to learn a bit more about its goals and opportunities. Read more »
Health care and stock trading has led to a need for new forms of cloud networking, which are growing much quicker than good old enterprise networking. However, cloud networking needs to have low latencies, and it needs new forms of control, because speed alone doesn’t help. Read more »
Two markets stand out above all else when looking at the first quarter of 2011: infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — the epitome of cloud computing — and big data. Amazon Web Services continues to lead the IaaS space in terms of customers and innovation, while Rackspace, buoyed by momentum around OpenStack, will be its primary competitor for mainstream customers. In the big data space, there are so many players and terms floating about it’s difficult for outsiders to get a handle on who’s who and what’s what, though such activity validates the technologies. Other developments this quarter included HP’s impending presence in the cloud computing and big data spaces and the realization that Intel won’t be left to die if low-power servers based on x86 processors catch on like the buzz late last year suggests they will. Additional companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Microsoft, Cloudera, SeaMicro and Facebook. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Hardware rarely comes up in discussions about big data, save for those centered on data warehouse appliances. But the omission hardly means hardware is irrelevant. In fact, big gear might become a big deal as companies look to bolster the performance of their big data systems. Read more »
