Dell and VMware, Inc. today announced the companies are extending a
longstanding relationship to deliver solutions that will accelerate
adoption of network virtualization and open networking in the
software-defined data center. The expanded relationship includes a range
of new networking solutions for midmarket, large enterprise and service
provider customers, backed by a joint go-to-market initiative, a
validated reference architecture and a global reseller agreement.
Dell and VMware are working with Cumulus Networks® to deliver the VMware
NSX network virtualization platform with Cumulus®
Linux® on Dell Networking switches. Additionally, Dell is delivering
a fully-tested and validated converged infrastructure solution for
midmarket customers that includes VMware NSX.
VMware NSX is on the Dell price list today, and is currently available
directly from Dell and Dell channel partners for purchase and
deployment. Dell and VMware have partnered to train the Dell field, with
thousands of representatives already completing initial VMware NSX
training. Dell and VMware have also completed a validated reference
architecture for the combined Dell and VMware networking solution.
Advancing the Era of Open Networking
Dell, VMware and Cumulus Networks are delivering a pre-configured
solution, available from Dell, that combines VMware NSX with Cumulus
Linux on Dell Networking switches. This combined solution will help
enterprises and service providers achieve holistic management and
provisioning of the complete data center networking environment,
physical and virtual, and accelerate deployment of new applications
while simplifying IT operations. The companies expect customers to
achieve the following benefits:
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Transition rigid, proprietary networking solutions to flexible, open,
simple and agile networking with compelling economics;
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Speed network and service provisioning time to accelerate application
deployment time;
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Leverage network virtualization, isolation and segmentation to
Implement application and client multi-tenancy;
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Connect physical workloads with virtual networks;
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Improve performance and quality-of-service by automatically detecting
and isolating application-specific flows (known in networking as
elephant and mice flows);
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Deliver micro-segmentation to embed security into data center
constructs.
Converged Solutions for Midmarket Businesses
Companies with limited IT staff and budget are looking for simple,
integrated and validated architectures. Dell and VMware have teamed to
provide a converged infrastructure solution to meet these requirements.
The solution features the VMware NSX network virtualization platform
running on top of reliable Dell servers, networking, and storage
infrastructure. Dell’s converged infrastructure includes the Dell
PowerEdge M1000e server blade chassis, the Dell Networking 10/40GbE MXL
blade switch, S4810 Top of Rack switch and S6000 fabric switches, as
well as Dell Storage iSCSI arrays. The solution is tested, validated and
supported by Dell, providing customers a single trusted partner that can
streamline procurement and services. To simplify deployment, Dell and
VMware deliver a validated reference architecture.
Supporting Quotes
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“Dell is changing the game in networking with VMware and Cumulus
Networks,” said Marius Haas, chief commercial officer and president,
Enterprise Solutions. “This announcement extends our commitment to
providing customers choice in how they move to a more software-defined
data center. Additionally, when two of the largest enterprise IT
leaders come together, such as VMware and Dell, to provide the most
open, automated and comprehensive solutions - that have been
fully-tested and validated - the customer wins. And that is what Dell
is all about.”
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“Global organizations are adopting the software-defined data center as
an open, agile, secure and efficient architecture to simplify IT and
transition to the hybrid cloud,” said Raghu Raghuram, executive vice
president, SDDC Division, VMware. “The software-defined data center
enables open innovation at speeds that cannot be matched in the
hardware-defined world. As partners, VMware and Dell are committed to
advancing networking in the SDDC, and are collaborating to make the
next-generation of advanced network virtualization available to our
mutual customers.”
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"It's exciting to help customers realize the data center efficiencies
pioneered by the largest operators in the world," said JR Rivers,
co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Networks. "Dell, VMware and Cumulus
Networks allow organizations of all sizes to deploy qualified
solutions as they modernize; driving to faster, easier, and more
affordable data centers.”
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“For network virtualization to reach broadly into all addressable
enterprise markets – from the largest enterprises to mid-size
companies – it is essential that a strong vendor ecosystem deliver
complete solutions that can be easily procured, deployed, managed, and
supported,” said Brad Casemore, research director, Datacenter
Networks, IDC. “Dell, VMware, and Cumulus Networks clearly see
significant opportunity to provide a wide range of architectural
options, from network disaggregation to converged infrastructure.”
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“The Dell collaboration brings a potentially important vendor to
VMware’s NSX because of Dell’s Open Networking initiative with the
integration of Cumulus Linux software as well as for converged
infrastructure,” said Peter Christy, Network Research Director for 451
Research. “Dell uniquely combines the benefits of a global IT
technology provider with a leading edge network business strategy that
embraces SDN and Open Networking, as well as having a complementary
converged infrastructure platform offering.”
Availability
Both the VMware NSX running on Cumulus Linux solution and the converged
infrastructure solution with VMware NSX are available for order
beginning today.
Additional Information:
About Dell
Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and
services that give them the power to do more. For more information,
visit www.dell.com.
About VMware
VMware (NYSE: VMW) is the leader in virtualization and cloud
infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud
Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build,
deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is
evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of
$5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000
partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices
throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.
About Cumulus Networks
Cumulus Networks is bringing the Linux revolution to networking. Founded
by veteran networking engineers from Cisco and VMware, Cumulus Networks
makes the first Linux operating system for networking hardware and fills
a critical gap in realizing the true promise of the software-defined
data center. Just as Linux completely transformed the economics and
innovation on the server side of the data center, Cumulus Linux is doing
the same for the network. It is radically reducing the costs and
complexities of operating modern data center networks for service
providers and enterprises. Cumulus Networks has received venture funding
from Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Peter
Wagner and four of the original VMware founders. For more information
visit www.cumulusnetworks.com/
or follow @cumulusnetworks.
VMware, VMware NSX are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware,
Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and
names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal
partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.
CUMULUS, the Cumulus Logo, CUMULUS NETWORKS, and the Rocket Turtle Logo
(the “Marks”) are trademarks and service marks of Cumulus Networks, Inc.
in the U.S. and other countries. You are not permitted to use the Marks
without the prior written consent of Cumulus Networks. The registered
trademark Linux® is used pursuant to a sublicense from LMI, the
exclusive licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a world-wide
basis. All other marks are used under fair use or license from their
respective owners.
Copyright Business Wire 2014