Cumulus and the Challenges of Web-scale Networking
In this episode of The New Stack Makers, we spoke to Josh Leslie, Chief Executive Officer, and JR Rivers, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Web-scale networking software provider Cumulus Networks. We discussed how to best define web-scale networking, and how Cumulus Linux is different from traditional networking solutions. They spoke to the need for inter-system communication for new workloads, and how that factors into building a software-defined data center. They told us about their company’s recent product release Cumulus Express, as well as its announcement around Facebook’s Backpack, an open network chassis. Our conversation included points about hyper-converged infrastructure, customer roadblocks, and the roadmap for Cumulus Networks.
Building an Efficient, Affordable Data Center Network Using Web-Scale Principles
Topics
04:10: What differentiates Cumulus Linux from traditional networking solutions
4:30: Inter-system communication needed for containers.
7:10: Cumulus Networks and OpenStack.
8:25: Announced Cumulus Express and support for Facebook Backpack Chassis.
13:20: What is the customer need for Facebook Backpack?
14:20: The need for an open networking chassis.
15:40: Building the software-defined data center.
18:35: Cumulus and hyper-converged infrastructure.
20:20: Hyper-converged infrastructure is not going to be everyone’s default.
22:45: Infrastructure deployments have become very big.
25:23: Roadblocks centered around customers moving to cloud architectures.
26:57: Roadmap focused on platform support, network functionality and serving more customers.
