PayPerCloud(TM) Revamps Network With Ethernet Fabric and 10 GbE to Meet Growing Demand

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PayPerCloud(TM) Revamps Network With Ethernet Fabric and 10 GbE to Meet Growing Demand

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Brocade Helps Cloud Hosting Company Increase Orders by 160 Percent After Displacing Incumbent Networking Vendor

SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 07/31/2012 -- (NASDAQ: BRCD) Cloud hosting provider PayPerCloud ran its business on a mix of servers and storage connected with various network switches operating at 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), but the aging infrastructure was unable to scale with its growing business. The company was running out of physical ports and experiencing performance issues. It needed a 10 GbE solution.

After evaluating several solutions, PayPerCloud replaced its infrastructure with a Brocade® Ethernet fabric that includesBrocade VDX® 6720 Switches and Brocade MLX® Series routers. The comprehensive solution from Brocade delivered the performance, scalability and reliability PayPerCloud needed, as well as the design, installation, service and support.

PayPerCloud relies on Brocade VDX 6720 switches for 10 GbE top-of-rack server connectivity. These connect to Brocade MLX-16 routers in a Multi-Chassis Trunking (MCT) configuration, enabling network-level virtualization and enhanced network reliability. A Brocade MLXe-4 chassis resides at the edge of the network and supports connections between servers and storage, as well as 10 GbE Internet connectivity. SAN storage arrays connect to Brocade MLXe-16 chassis to provide storage connectivity to the various environments.

California-based PayPerCloud -- specializing in creating a high-availability, cloud-hosting infrastructure and cloud-enabled applications -- has since launched VaultScape™, an online backup service, based on its new storage capabilities. The Brocade network infrastructure allows PayPerCloud to easily support new customers on the bandwidth-intensive backup service as it continues to grow. PayPerCloud subsequently grew its customer base 81 percent in 2011, and orders are currently up 160 percent for 2012.

PayPerCloud also increased its server-rack density from eight servers per rack to 12, a 50 percent increase, and expects to reduce power consumption by approximately 60 percent. "Now we have half as many cables to manage," said Miles Feinberg, president of PayPerCloud. "And VM management takes a lot less time with Brocade Network Advisor."

The Brocade Automatic Migration of Port Profiles (AMPP) feature ensures that a consistent port profile is applied to all VDX switches in the fabric. Whenever there is a VM motion event, it dynamically configures the switch ports to ensure that VM traffic experiences consistent policies and configurations. PayPerCloud is leveraging AMPP with Brocade Network Advisor, a graphic user interface (GUI) based network management tool, to automate a previously manual process.

This incredible growth was almost upended by the company's aging network. "When we moved to pure hosting services, we discovered our weak points," said Feinberg. "Brocade helped us architect a plan that fulfills our business goals, and service and support have been great."

What Is an Ethernet Fabric?

Compared to classic hierarchical Ethernet, Ethernet fabrics provide higher levels of performance, utilization, availability and simplicity. Moreover, they have the following characteristics:

• Flatter: Ethernet fabrics are self-aggregating, enabling a flatter network.
• Intelligent: Switches in the fabric know about each other and all connected devices.
• Scalable: All paths are available to help ensure high performance and reliability.
• Efficient: Traffic automatically travels along the shortest path.
• Simple: The fabric is managed as a single logical entity.

"The interest in Ethernet fabric offerings and customer adoption are all on the rise. Customers want to migrate to an Ethernet fabric with minimal disruption to current operations. An access layer-based approach addresses the pains that drive many to look at fabrics to begin with: the latency and unnecessary load on core switches that is incurred without the risk associated with a 'rip and replace' strategy. The right fabric does not require an entirely new set of skills and training to manage, and solid solutions do exist," said Zeus Kerravala, founder ZK Research.

In the PayPerCloud environment, Brocade 1860 Fabric Adapter cards installed in Dell servers enable 10 GbE connectivity to the Microsoft Hyper-V hosts and security systems, which provide 10 GbE backup performance. Brocade Network Advisor gives PayPerCloud end-to-end visibility through an integrated interface that manages the Brocade devices, the remaining incumbent devices and third-party monitoring tools.

PayPerCloud has noticed significant performance and bandwidth improvements as a result of the network upgrade. "We went from eight- to nine-millisecond latency to the Internet backbone to sub-millisecond latency. Our rack-to-rack latency is in the nanoseconds, whereas before it was three to four milliseconds," said Feinberg.

The Brocade network infrastructure also has enabled increased capacity and scalability. "Our capacity originally was 48 servers per row and 30 VMs per machine, and we were maxed out. Today, the Brocade architecture allows us to support 72 servers per row and 540 possible VMs in a rack. If we need more 10 GbE capacity, we can scale out easily," said Feinberg.

Brocade VDX 6720 switches are among the lowest power consuming top-of-rack switches on the market.

Additional Assets:

Case study: Hosting Company Finds Success in the Cloud with Brocade  

Tags: PayPerCloud, Ethernet Fabric, Brocade, VDX, MLX, Brocade Network Advisor

About BrocadeBrocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) networking solutions help the world's leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. (www.brocade.com)

JUNIPER NETWORKS MORE THAN DOUBLES THE CAPACITY OF THE NETWORK CORE WITH NEW UPGRADES FOR T SERIES ROUTERS

Press release:

JUNIPER NETWORKS MORE THAN DOUBLES THE CAPACITY OF THE NETWORK CORE WITH NEW UPGRADES FOR T SERIES ROUTERS

Next Generation Multi-Chassis Support for T4000 and T1600 Routers Delivers Unmatched System Scalability and Superior Investment Protection

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - May 22, 2012) - Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), the industry leader in network innovation, today announced a new capacity upgrade to the TXP multi-chassis routing system for all existing Juniper Networks® T4000 and T1600 core routers. Multi-chassis systems continue to be a critical technology for service providers to scale their network infrastructure while ensuring operational continuity and optimizing capital expenditures. The new TXP system more than doubles the capacity of the previous generation and delivers customers greater scalability and investment protection by extending the lifespan and performance of their network infrastructures built on T Series Core Routers. This capacity upgrade is done in-service and provides service providers with the financial and operational flexibility to expand network capacity where it is needed to support the growing bandwidth requirements driven by immense online video, social media and ever expanding cloud services and content.

News Highlights

• The rising adoption of always connected devices and rich media applications worldwide places tremendous demands on service provider infrastructures, causing network and equipment scaling requirements to grow rapidly. To address these challenges in an economical and operationally sustainable manner, service, content and application providers alike require solutions with unprecedented financial and operational flexibility and scale. 
  
• Juniper Networks T Series IP/MPLS multi-service core routers provide the leading features and multi-terabit scale that service providers need to handle massive growth in core bandwidth requirements. The field-proven in-service upgradability provides customers guaranteed access to future T Series platform innovation, resulting in unmatched investment protection.
  
• With the introduction of the T Series in 2002, Juniper pioneered the "modern" IP core router and redefined the market with its innovative architecture that has allowed our customers to flexibly and economically grow their network by taking advantage of the unique in-service upgrade capabilities that were engineered into the platform from the start. Since the first shipment in 2002, well over 7,000 T Series routers have been deployed in the top 200 networks worldwide allowing billions of users to enjoy the services offered by their service provider every day.
  
• The TXP multi-chassis routing system supports the following key functionality: 
  
  • Up to 4X T4000 and 8X T1600 system capacity 
  • Up to 22 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity 
  • Future capacity expandable up to 64 Tbps 
  • Simplified pay-as-you grow installation and expansion with standards-based cabling and pluggable optics
    
• Juniper's scalable and flexible multi-service core architecture with carrier-grade reliability and guaranteed high-performance can efficiently deliver a wide breadth of revenue-generating services while minimizing both capital and operational expenditures, ensuring customers can achieve: 
  
  • Continued scaling of existing multi-service core with a proven platform that is future ready 
  • Investment protection for current T Series customer base 
  • Operational simplicity with the flexibility to grow seamlessly 
  • In-service upgrade to provide continuity and no user interruption

The upgrade for the TXP multi-chassis system will be available for shipment in the fourth quarter 2012.

Supporting Quotes

China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC)"Juniper has been an excellent partner in helping us as we grow and evolve our network to meet increasing customer demands and the expanded capabilities of the TXP Multi-chassis system are a promising way to help us continue to expand our existing infrastructure." 
-- Jianming Zhou while visiting Juniper in his capacity as General Manager of the Technical Department at China Mobile Communications Company (CMCC).

Juniper Networks"Service providers are dependent on the infrastructure they build to deliver profitable services, but they must also be nimble and flexible to scale these services. Investment protection, operational continuity and future-ready scalability are critical components in infrastructure purchasing decisions. Expanding the capabilities of Juniper's TXP multi-chassis system, which is deployed in numerous networks worldwide, is clearly aligned with this strategy."
-- Daniel Hua, senior vice president and general manager, Core Business Unit, Juniper Networks

Infonetics Research"In order to scale their networks today, large service providers use the multi-chassis capabilities of their core routers, as scaling requirements continue to grow. Juniper's expansion of the TXP multi-chassis system will help operators meet their growth challenges due to the TXP's flexible scaling, operational continuity, and investment protection -- three components of any service provider's expansion strategy. This latest generation TXP features the innovation in the multi-chassis interconnect of off-the-shelf pluggable optics and industry-standard cabling to nicely reduce the cost and operational complexity of deploying and managing multi-chassis systems."
-- Michael Howard, principal analyst, Infonetics Research

Additional Resources:

• Juniper.Net Community: www.juniper.net/community
• Juniper on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Junipernetworks
• Juniper on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JuniperNetworks

About Juniper NetworksJuniper Networks is in the business of network innovation. From devices to data centers, from consumers to cloud providers, Juniper Networks delivers the software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net).