Disaggregation in the Enterprise is “Open” for Business
Hyperscale data center operators were the first to deploy open source networking, storage and compute solutions, followed by enterprise data center operators. As the disaggregated infrastructure practice that began more than 20 years ago continues to transform the modern data center, enterprises across a wide span of industries are following suit by embracing the combination of open source hardware and software for their data centers and network infrastructure.
We expect the further adoption of open source systems to be one of the key takeaways from the 2022 OCP Global Summit taking place October 18-20, in San Jose, Calif. As a member of the Open Compute Project (OCP), Celestica is working to ensure open source technology continues to gain momentum.
During the summit, we will contribute the complete design specification for our DS1000 Ethernet switch, as well as the bill of materials and schematic files needed to produce and manufacture it, so we can get OCP status and release the product into the OCP marketplace.
Large businesses are increasingly building their IT infrastructure on a foundation of open source hardware and software for the following reasons:
- Avoids vendor lock-in: disaggregated hardware and software frees users from having to follow one vendor’s product roadmap and pricing structure.
- Supports a large (and growing) technology partner ecosystem: enterprises can implement different applications from a variety of open source and commercial developers to run on top of one piece of hardware. For example, the Celestica DS1000 switch includes an Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) installer to support third-party network operating systems.
- Accelerates innovation: open source solutions streamline and expedite R&D cycles because the competition among hardware and application vendors compels them to develop and launch their newest solutions faster. That shortens the time for enterprises to implement the applications they need on their networks.
Image Recreation: OCP Tech Week 2020
National retailers at the Enterprise Edge are the next phase of adoption into open source hardware and software solutions, particularly for the edges of their networks. Consider a big box retailer with thousands of brick-and-mortar stores, each with several networking and storage devices deployed onsite. Every store is essentially a mini data center, and the implementation of open source hardware components at one store will create a model the company can replicate across all other locations while realizing the benefits described above.
Disaggregation and open networking have radically transformed how networking equipment is acquired and deployed in data center and telco environments. During the OCP Global Summit, Celestica’s Senior Director, Engineering Product Line Management, Jeff Catlin examined why the enterprise edge is likely to be the next segment to adopt disaggregation and open networking widely.
Check out our OCP landing page to learn about our rack integration capabilities, preview our 800G data center switch, and more.