Telecommunications & MSP
Flexible & Simple Operations
N/A
Telecommunications & MSP
Flexible & Simple Operations
N/A
NTT Software Innovation Center (SIC) is undertaking promotion of open innovation centering on the development of open source platforms, collaborative service development with NTT operating companies, and other R&D. NTT SIC is playing an active part in various open source projects including OpenStack, Hadoop, PostgreSQL and Linux kernel.
As the technology thought leader, NTT SIC required a flexible network that allowed rapid innovation and was simple to operate while controlling their TCO.
The team at NTT SIC was experiencing growing layer 2 complexities like network loop, rogue DHCP servers, mis-configuration of IP addresses, and wanted to adopt a network architecture that addressed these challenges. The ability to build and rapidly deploy custom applications was of paramount importance. The solution had to be able to easily integrate with their existing software stack and leverage custom applications like GoBGP
As multiple operational teams depend on NTT SIC, the R&D team was working on tight SLAs and could not spend cycles provisioning and managing their network. They needed a reliable yet simple network infrastructure that allowed collaboration and rapid innovation.
The openness which Cumulus Networks brings to the network world has huge impact to us. Making the best use of the openness of Cumulus Linux, we are running Kubernetes, Calico, Docker and GoBGP on top of ToR switches, which enables high flexibility and low operational cost.
Wataru IshidaEngineer at NTT
To reduce layer 2 complexities, NTT SIC decided on a Clos layer 3 fabric. After conducting thorough research and an internal evaluation, the team decided on Open Networking with Cumulus Linux. With Ubuntu on the compute nodes and Cumulus Linux on the leaf and spine switches, NTT SIC was able to leverage their existing Ansible knowledge and automation experience to automate their network similar to their compute environment. For users who wanted to continue using the layer 2 network, the team used EVPN/VXLAN.
The main criteria for selecting Cumulus Linux included:
The network flexibility and simplification gained by using layer 3 and Cumulus Linux enabled NTT SIC to bring best practices and custom applications and tools from the compute side to their network. NTT SIC reduced their CapEx by half and lowered OpEx by:
NTT SIC worked with Cumulus Networks to build a flexible, simplified and cost-effective network for their data center and offices. Cumulus Linux enabled the team to develop and deploy custom applications across compute and network, helping expedite time to production. The resulting system allows NTT SIC to focus on rapid innovation and the support needs of their operational teams.