INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
Arista announces new
multi-function platform for
cloud networking
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A
rista Networks has announced a
new family of multi-function leaf
and spine platforms. Based on the
Barefoot Tofino series of P4-programmable
Ethernet switch chips, the Arista 7170 Series
delivers flexible systems for a multitude of
applications across cloud networks.
The new platform, running Arista EOS
(Extensible Operating System) SDK, delivers
up to 64x100G in a 2RU form factor.
Enterprise customers benefit from the
advanced telemetry and security profiles,
while service providers can take advantage
of large-scale security features and NAT
(network address translation). The Arista
7170 Series replaces expensive, legacy
networking appliances and routers by
moving critical functions into the network.
“With the Arista 7170 Series and EOS,
we are able to offer new and interesting
features that leverage the flexible pipeline
of the 7170 Series. At the same time, we
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took advantage of the programmability to
increase the scale of many existing features
for tunnel encapsulation, filtering, traffic
analysis and address translation,” said
Hugh Holbrook, Vice President, Software
Engineering for Arista Networks.
The multi-functional platform increases
server performance by offloading Hypervisor
vSwitch networking functions such as tunnel
termination, security policy enforcement
and address translation onto the leaf switch,
allowing more work to be accomplished
by the compute pool, saving equipment
costs and lowering power and cooling.
Additionally, as it’s EOS-based with a
comprehensive set of features, the same
device can be used in multiple roles, each
with its own profile, ensuring consistent
management and provisioning.
“With Tofino, Barefoot has proven that
programmability can be delivered without
compromise on performance and I believe
that future switch chips will be fully
programmable – there is no reason not to.
It allows protocols to be lifted up and out
of hardware into software. Arista’s first
Tofino-based platforms do exactly that,
using P4 to deliver customised profiles to
their customers. Programmable switches
take differentiation in the market to a whole
new level. This is going to get interesting,”
said Nick McKeown, Chief Scientist and Co-
Founder at Barefoot Networks.
The 7170 Series with Arista EOS supports
a rich set of both data plane and control
plane features and capabilities with a
programmable SDK for deployment in either
a leaf or spine role in two-tier cloud networks
with the default cloud profiles. Additional
custom profiles can be defined in P4 to add
features, alter the operation or change the
lookups performed across the data plane for
packets passing through the 7170 switch. n
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