SAN JOSE, Calif. OCP Summit – Mar 10 Edgecore Networks, the leader in open networking, today announced it is bringing the benefits of open networking to enterprise access networks and to service providers offering public network access services or managed network services, by contributing to the Open Compute Project (OCP) the designs of the industry’s first open WiFi access points and open access switches.
The open WiFi access points and access switches support a choice of open source and commercial software options through the disaggregated software model, which has proven in data center networks to deliver increased choice, faster pace of innovation, greater control, and lower costs for network operators. Edgecore is contributing three open WiFi Access Point designs to address requirements for high performance and cost sensitive indoor WiFi deployments, and for outdoor WiFi access in hotspot and enterprise applications. The open access switches with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) interconnecting and powering the open access points form an access network to support the full range of wired and wireless devices required by enterprises and small businesses, including servers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, cameras, security devices, card readers and other IoT devices.
“Open networking was born in the data center. Now, Edgecore is bringing open networking and its benefits of lower cost, increased flexibility and choice to access networks,” said George Tchaparian, CEO, Edgecore Networks. “By delivering the first WiFi access points and PoE access switches and with open designs, Edgecore offers software partners and network operators the hardware platforms on which to develop more innovative, easily managed and cloud-provisioned network access services. The result will be lower cost and more flexible wired and wireless networking solutions for enterprises, and more widely available cloud-managed network services from Managed Service Providers.”
Open WiFi Access Points
Edgecore will make available open access points through its resellers and integrators worldwide, beginning with products based on the designs contributed to OCP:
- ECW7220-O Indoor 802.11ac dual-radio access point with 3x3 MIMO. Available April.
- ECWO7220-O Outdoor 802.11ac dual-radio access point with 3x3 MIMO. Available May.
- ECW7212-O Indoor 802.11ac dual-radio access point with 2x2 MIMO. Available June.
The 802.11ac 3x3 access points are designed with Broadcom’s 802.11ac radio and CPU silicon for applications requiring maximum WiFi range and throughput, including enterprise campus deployments and service provider hotspot infrastructure, with models for indoor deployment and outdoor deployment. The outdoor access point has a hardened enclosure for operating conditions meeting IP67 environmental standards and temperatures from -400C to 550C. The 2x2 access point is based on Broadcom’s 802.11ac Wireless SOC, and provides an entry level 802.11ac product for applications requiring cost sensitive or compact hardware.
The open access points support the installation of commercial and open-source access point software through the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE), the OCP universal software installer. Edgecore is demonstrating the loading of its access point software onto the ECW7220-O indoor 802.11ac 3x3 access point at the OCP Summit on March 9-10 in San Jose. Edgecore will work with the open community to enable open-source OpenWrt software to be loaded onto the open access points via ONIE, resulting in completely open access point alternatives.
Open Access Switches
The Edgecore AS4610 family of open access switches is based on the designs contributed to OCP, and is available now from Edgecore resellers and integrators worldwide:
- AS4610-54T 48 x 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 ports, 4 x SFP+ 10GbE ports
- AS4610-54P 48 x 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 ports with PoE, 4 x SFP+ 10GbE ports
- AS4610-30T 24 x 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 ports, 4 x SFP+ 10GbE ports
- AS4610-30P 24 x 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 ports with PoE, 4 x SFP+ 10GbE ports
The AS4610 switches have dual redundant AC power supplies for reliability. The PoE switches provide industry leading power budgets, with 802.3at (30W/port) support all 48 GbE ports, and UPoE (60W/port) support on up to eight GbE ports, enabling the switches to power high performance WiFi access points and a complete range of access devices with varying power requirements.
The AS4610 access switches ship with ONIE, which manages the installation of compatible NOS options in the disaggregated network model. The AS4610 family is compatible with Open Network Linux (ONL), the OCP open source reference NOS, and with Cumulus® Linux® and Pica8 PicOSTM commercial NOS offerings.
Edgecore Leadership in Open Networking
Edgecore will be exhibiting the open network access switches and WiFi access points at the OCP Summit in San Jose on March 9-10, and introducing new open networking solutions in a presentation there on March 10. Edgecore will also be exhibiting its product line of open network switches, and the following new products and design contributions announced at the Summit.
Edgecore contribution to OCP of the Open Modular Platform design, the industry’s highest bandwidth open network switch providing up to 512-ports of 100GbE with open source software options;
Edgecore design contribution to OCP of the high buffer AS5912-54X switch, for high performance ToR, data center interconnect and service provider edge use cases, with 48-ports of SFP+ 10GbE and 6-ports of QSFP28 100GbE, designed with Broadcom StrataDNX™ QumranMX switch silicon;
Wedge100 switch, with 32-ports of 100GbE, designed and contributed to OCP by Facebook, manufactured by Accton Technology (Edgecore’s parent), and will be available from Edgecore as a commercial product;
Open Optical Monitoring API demonstration based on Edgecore switch hardware, Cumulus® Linux® NOS, and optical transceivers and cables from Amphenol, Avago, and Finisar;
OpenSwitch, the open source NOS, demonstrated for the first time on 100GbE switches-- on the Edgecore AS7712-32X OCP-accepted switch based on Broadcom StrataXGS Tomahawk™ switch silicon in the Edgecore booth, and on Edgecore AS7512-32X OCP-contributed switch based on Cavium XPliant® switch silicon in the Cavium booth.
Supporting Quotes
“Accton has demonstrated a significant commitment to OCP by contributing data center switch designs and implementing OCP software projects. We are excited about Edgecore’s design contributions of both access switches and access point hardware, which promise to extend the proven benefits of open networking from the data center into access networks for a broader community of enterprises, service providers and vendors.” — Omar Baldonado and Carlos Cardenas, Co-Chairs, OCP Networking Project
"We're excited to collaborate with Edgecore to enable Open Network Linux support on these open management switches. This is further proof of the power of the open network community to deliver an increasing set of choices to customers as they implement open network infrastructures." — Rob Sherwood, CTO, Big Switch Networks
“Edgecore has put together a very powerful open wireless platform targeting the ever increasing 11ac build-out that is occurring across enterprise and carrier networks. Broadcom is proud to be working with Edgecore on these platforms based on our market leading 11ac radio and processor technology.” — Mike Powell, Director Marketing for Enterprise Wireless, Broadcom Limited
"Edgecore's contribution of access and edge designs to OCP accelerates the move to open networking across the full spectrum of equipment, and we are pleased to complement that with an open platform for apps that works across those devices bringing new levels of capability and intelligence to the network. Snappy Ubuntu Core enables developers to target any of these devices with a single app." — Mark Shuttleworth, Founder of Ubuntu and Canonical
“Edgecore is a leader in open data center networking systems. Their contribution of open access points and access switches to the Open Compute Project, now accelerates innovation, agility and reduced cost for campus and service provider access networks. The networking industry is shifting and Edgecore is leading the disruption with a broad networking portfolio.” — William Choe, VP Products and Alliances, Cumulus Networks
“As more people rely on their mobile devices, access switches and WiFi access points will become increasingly important. Accton is well positioned to bring open networking to access networks based on the Open Compute Project principles, and in turn, bring lower costs and more flexibility to wired-wireless networking solutions. Building upon the OCP designs, enterprise network operators and solution providers will benefit from Edgecore’s open access switches and open WiFi Access Point products, as well as IP Infusion’s OcNOS network operating system designed to accelerate adoption of open network solutions across a broad base of industries.” — Kiyo Oishi, CEO and President, IP Infusion
“We’re delighted to see Edgecore deliver the first open WiFi access point hardware to the market. Like in the server and data center network businesses, the wireless market has matured to the point where open standards are inevitable. As one of the first cloud managed WiFi players in the industry, we’ve long envisioned our value-add positioned in feature-rich software and the advanced scalability that the cloud brings to WiFi. Ultimately, open WiFi hardware coupled with cloud services innovation will give businesses greater choice and better savings.” — Freddy Mangum, CMO, Mojo Networks
“With these new access switches, Edgecore has extended the promise of open networking from the data center to the LAN. When driven by our PicOS NOS, these solutions can deliver the benefits of Layer-2 / Layer-3 networking with easy migration to OpenFlow-based SDN for cost-effective management and service agility.” — Dan Tuchler, VP Product Management, Pica8 Inc.
About Edgecore Networks
Edgecore Networks Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accton Technology, the leading network ODM. Edgecore Networks delivers wired and wireless networking products and solutions through channel partners and system integrators worldwide for the Data Center, Service Provider, Enterprise and SMB customers. Edgecore Networks is the leader in open networking providing a full line of open WiFi access points and 1GbE, 10GbE, 25GbE, 40GbE, 50GbE and 100GbE OCP-accepted switches that offer choice of NOS and SDN software for data center, telecommunications and enterprise networks. For more information, visit www.Edge-Core.com.