Inspur Cisco Networks: Open source and SDN bring new development opportunities to domestic network companies

Open source has become a trend, and almost all technology companies in the industry are contributing to open source. For example, Alibaba, which has contributed the most open source software, has open sourced 145 projects. At the "China Open Source Annual Conference" on November 19, 2016, it open sourced Pouch, a container technology based on the Apache 2.0 protocol. It is reported that Pouch has supported the business deployment of Alibaba's 100 billion orders on Double 11. In Alibaba's view, bringing technological innovation and promotion through "open source and crowd innovation" is the core meaning of its open source.

A year later, Zhou Mu, CTO of Inspur Cisco Network, also expressed a similar view. At the Inspur Cisco Network Strategy Conference held in Beijing on November 15, 2017, CTO Zhou Mu mentioned that "open source has created opportunities for us. In the future, we can turn these open sources into something with Chinese characteristics. This is our dream." He also said that the new company will embrace the power of open source, surpass the traditional closed network system, and realize the innovative development of domestic networks.

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New opportunities for open source and SDN

In the era of digital transformation, as the scale of enterprise network systems gradually expands, the difficulty of managing the entire network will increase dramatically, becoming a problem that CIOs in all industries have to overcome. This also makes it impossible for enterprise networks to carry out rapid iteration and delivery of applications, especially the "DevOps" model that is regarded as a golden rule by many enterprises. Due to the limitations of this network, it cannot be carried out smoothly. Enterprises call for an effective way to solve network problems in the era of digital transformation. The emergence of SDN software-defined network technology has brought good news to enterprises.

Its core technology, OpenFlow, separates the control plane from the data plane of network devices to achieve flexible control of network traffic, providing a good platform for innovation of core networks and applications, and adapting to the iterative delivery requirements of business applications more efficiently and flexibly. This made SDN immediately favored and sought after by the industry as soon as it appeared. Almost all traditional and emerging network companies cannot ignore this innovative technology and hope to seize this new "trend" so that their SDN technology can solve the problems encountered by industry customers in the era of digital transformation.

In addition, the powerful role of the open source community cannot be ignored. The open source community has contributed to almost every level of SDN: from controllers to switches to network virtualization, from OpenDaylight/RYU/Floodlight (SDN network controller level) to Open vSwitch/Indigo/ONetSwitch (SDN switch level) to Flowvisor/OpenVirteX (network virtualization level). It can be said that it has everything. It is no exaggeration to say that the open source community has given SDN infinite "power", allowing it to seize the opportunities of digital transformation and flourish.

The dawn of a breakthrough for domestic online brands

Under the impact of digital transformation, the old network rules are no longer fully adapted, and the new network mode of SDN software-defined network has emerged. In the eyes of many domestic network manufacturers, this is undoubtedly a rare opportunity to "rebound", because SDN is no longer a "closed exclusive" for a certain company. It is a "new network species" that has grown rapidly under the nourishment of the open source community. It seems to have brought all network companies to the same starting line. Everyone has the opportunity to use the technology of the open source community to build their own SDN products and technologies.

The opportunities that the open source community brings to domestic Internet brands are not only likely to subvert the "rules and order" of the old Internet competition, but more importantly, it will subvert the company's business model. In the past, the business model of these companies was similar to "closed-door development", focusing on self-research and development, while open source is a cooperative model that reflects the collective innovation of multiple organizations. This new cooperation-driven model will help companies increase the speed of network product development while further saving resources.

Of course, there are more reasons why domestic network companies are interested in SDN and open source. The country's requirement for "autonomy and controllability" also allows them to find greater development opportunities from open source. Zhou Mu, CTO of Inspur Cisco, believes that "from the perspective of the country, the network must become trustworthy, so Inspur Cisco embraces open source mainly because of its openness and transparency, which can ensure security while achieving maximum efficiency." The various benefits of open source have allowed domestic network companies to see the dawn of "breaking the situation."

Hundreds of boats compete with each other, each with its own characteristics

More and more domestic network companies are eager to seize the precious opportunities provided by SDN and open source, and continue to explore their own development paths based on their own characteristics. Zhou Mu, CTO of Inspur Cisco Network, said when explaining the future open source route planning of Inspur Cisco Network, "First, open source; second, we will have our own reinforcement; third, our development will give back to the open source organization. Therefore, DevOps can be adopted within the data center. In the future, we will continue to move forward along the path of SDN, and we will also discuss SDX and even other things."

On November 15, 2017, Inspur Cisco Networks immediately released the CN6000 series of data center switches and the matching Inspur ICE1.0 intelligent cloud engine SDN controller. The controller is based on OpenDayLight technology and is reinforced on its basis. It can manage large-scale virtual networks (overlay) on top of physical layer devices, quickly deploy cloud computing and virtualized resources, simplify the architecture and operation and maintenance mode of data centers, save costs and be more flexible. According to Zhou Mu, Inspur Cisco will also expand its product areas in the future, from data center switches to all solutions required by all enterprises for digital transformation, including routers, switches, wireless and other different devices. Of course, it is hoped that some of it can be achieved based on software-defined methods.

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It is reported that Inspur and Cisco are completely based on mature and advanced commercial chips and hardware platforms, which are closer to users, adapt to market changes more quickly, and meet customer needs more quickly. Open source technology can help Inspur and Cisco adopt the latest market technology as quickly as possible. For domestic network manufacturers, open source and software definition have become a strategic direction. We believe that in the future, with the help of open architecture, open source platform, and local talents, the "reversal and breakthrough" of domestic network manufacturers will not only exist in imagination.