Big Switch automates hyperconverged environments

Big Switch Networks, a data center networking company, announced Big Cloud Fabric (BCF), an SDN-based data center network switching fabric, now supports a robust ecosystem of the leading hyperconverged (HCI) solutions, including VMware vSAN, Dell EMC ScaleIO and Nutanix.

The introduction of HCI technology has fundamentally altered the enterprise storage landscape by offering increased performance, enhanced data services, lower CapEx, and simplified operations.

The network simplicity and automation introduced via Big Cloud Fabric, which leverages SDN-based leaf/spine Clos fabric and open networking hardware to enable rapid provisioning of networks for HCI scale-out deployments and high performance for large clusters, is ideal for HCI environments.

Big Cloud Fabric automates the provisioning of network resources through integration with HCI orchestration systems and provides full visibility of HCI environments to network teams, thus becoming the "networking easy button" for IT teams deploying modern storage solutions and software-defined data centers (SDDCs).

Additionally, BCF reduces networking TCO by deploying on industry-standard switch hardware from Dell EMC open networking, Edgecore white box, and the HPE Altoline family.

BCF's SDN architecture complements HCI architecture: both separate the data and control planes with a centralised software-based controller.

BCF delivers unique benefits, such as rapid network resource deployment, scale-out architecture that does not impede HCI network performance with large clusters, and reduces networking TCO by deploying on industry-standard switch hardware from Dell EMC open networking, Edgecore white box, and the HPE Altoline family.

Tianjin Broadcast IT Manager Jia Zhen says, "If you have a vSAN cluster, Big Cloud Fabric is the best choice for system management. It has opened up the 'network black box' for vSAN managers.

We now have an easy-to-manage HCI environment, Big Cloud Fabric was significantly easier and faster to deploy when compared to our prior data center network solution and it has provided ongoing operational efficiencies due to the superior technical architecture.

"Additionally we have experienced zero network configuration error since deploying the solution.