Mellanox targets Open Composable Networks offering at Open Compute Project environments

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MLNX) has unveiled its Open Composable Networks (OCN) platform at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Summit. The platform aims to meet enterprise and service provider needs for open systems, network reconfiguration via software control, high performance, and best-of-breed elements.

The platform leverages a variety of Mellanox offerings, including its LinkX cables, the new ConnectX-4 Lx based OCP adapter cards, and the Spectrum Ethernet switches. The switches can run on several network operating systems, including Cumulus Linux, OpenSwitch, Metaswitch IP Routing, and Mellanox MLNX-OS. At the show, Mellanox is demonstrating an end-to-end 10/25, 50, 100 Gbps network using these products running on open software interfaces such as OCP Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) and Linux Switchdev.

The platform also benefits from Mellanox's NEO network management and control middleware. Neo can integrate with other cloud management platforms and software-defined networking (SDN) controllers, which improves efficiency and streamlines network deployment, scaling, and management, Mellanox says.

"Running OpenSwitch as the open source network operating system for Mellanox's new OCP platform opens the door for unbound innovation and agility for IT designers and administrators," said Mark Atwood, community director, OpenSwitch, via a Mellanox press release. "In addition to better control of their networks through disaggregation and the freedom of avoiding vendor lock-in, OpenSwitch enables a faster time to service and lower overall ownership costs compared to traditional solutions. Additionally, we welcome Mellanox as the newest member of the growing OpenSwitch community and look forward to future contributions to both the operating system and incorporation into future product designs."

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