Last week we were thrilled to hear that EPS Global, along with our partner IP Infusion, received industry recognition from the leading independent network consulting group IP ArchiTechs during their feature on the Packet Pusher's Heavy Networking podcast.
IP ArchiTechs is a vendor-agnostic consultancy focused on network design, protocols, and providing methodologies and tools that better align with their clients' business goals. Clients include Service Providers, enterprise networks, and everything in between.
Because they do not resell systems, IP ArchiTechs focus solely on researching and procuring the best networking practices and technologies for their clients, free of any external pressures. This has allowed them to create a unique market niche and they continue to be recognized by the industry as credible experts, with deep expertise in both closed and open systems. IP ArchiTechs has recommended EPS Global for several client projects now, having noticed our many successful deployments across the US and the rest of the world. We sit at the center of the Open Networking ecosystem, working with both the leading hardware and networking operating system (NOS) vendors to come up with the right solution based on our customers’ requirements, and provide tech support from pre-sales through POC, network design and implementation.
On the podcast, Kevin Myers, Senior Network Architect at IP ArchiTechs, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of white box networking. With more than two decades of experience in the networking industry, he has a great insight into the latest industry changes and new technologies.
Open Networking has been growing in relevancy due to pandemic-related supply chain issues. Some organizations who may have previously disregarded Open Networking are now finding it to be a viable market alternative, as they can no longer wait on their primary systems vendor.
Historical barriers to entry have been lowered. In particular, support and troubleshooting used to be a concern because of the inherrently disaggregated nature of Open Networking, with multiple vendors involved in solutions. But a new crop of cloud-based support tools, white box vendor management platforms, and the willingness and availability of NOS support teams are making it possible for network operators to quickly identify and resolve problems regardless of the underlying hardware or software. Kevin noted that with an increasing number of open standards vendors and advances in manufacturing, troubleshooting on Open Networking installs is comparable, if not better than closed systems. He highlighted several vendors, including IP Infusion and Edgecore Networks, as being effective technology partners and contrasting favorably the speed of bug fixes in installs.
In fact, as was referred to in our recent podcast “Beating the Supply Chain Crunch”, with our customer MetaLINK, one of the top 20 independent ISPs in North America, the support they have received in their open networking deployment has been far superior to the support experience they had when working with legacy vendors.
Kevin was quick to praise EPS Global: "We work with EPS Global quite a good bit, they really understand how the ecosystem works". He explained that while the VAR industry used to lag behind in understanding the value of open networking, there are now experts in the field like EPS who have helped the market mature.
In summary, Kevin and Ethan pointed out that white boxing and Open Networking can help align business objectives with infrastructure needs more closely. Having open standards in networking will allow for better point solutions to be deployed without the fear of complex vendor lock-ins or bloated deployments.
Beating the Supply Chain Crunch: A Case Study For Open Networking The Critical Lowdown Episode 12
On our last episode of The Critical Lowdown, we had both IP ArchiTechs and MetaLINK Technologies, MetaLINK being an advanced broadband service provider based in Ohio. MetaLINK was facing exponential demand for its products and services during the pandemic, with work from home, school from home and general lockdown requirements leading to a 400% growth in demand within the first few months. Upgrading capacity quickly and effectively became an immediate project.
The project managers contacted various black box and closed systems vendors, but MetaLINK weren't satisfied with the 12-18 month product lead times they were being quoted. Out of necessity, they looked into other options with EPS Global and Vince Schuele of IP ArchiTechs.
Within a 3-4 month timeframe, we were able to help MetaLINK power up their new network, and in the process they discovered some other huge benefits of white-box networking and working with IP Infusion, including simplified licensing and seamless troubleshooting.
If you would like to learn more about this project, you can listen here, and if you would like to learn more about any of the technologies, concepts, products or software mentioned in the podcast, you can find the accompanying transcript here: Beating the Supply Chain Crunch - A Case Study for Open Networking.
If you have specific questions about a project you are working on, you can schedule a call or meeting with our technical engineer here.