Responding to the immense challenges faced by both service providers and their ISVs partners, carrier-class cloud infrastructure innovator Kontron has delivered a superior, converged hardware platform that supports staged migration to high-performance, highly efficient network functions virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). Kontron also unveiled an on-demand/PaaS evaluation and development environment that ISVs can use to validate the performance of their software solutions on the Kontron platform and accelerate their go to market strategies.
The newest edition of Kontron’s converged hardware platform, SYMKLOUD MS2910, packs up to nine modular x86 servers each with single or dual independent nodes, plus two OpenFlow-manageable 10GbE switches in a 2U enclosure.
These modular servers are hot-swappable and can be easily custom-configured to meet service providers’ specific requirements with a variety of Intel-based processors, dedicated memory and storage components, and PCIe hardware acceleration expansion slots.
Service providers can also run multiple ISV applications concurrently on the same platform by “mixing-and-matching” their modular SYMKLOUD configurations for extremely versatile and dense system solutions. Only 21 inches deep, the compact SYMKLOUD MS2910 is ideal where rack space is at a premium. Up to 21 MS2910 platforms can be cross-connected on a 42U rack to get as many as 1,512 cores, 6 TB of memory and 378 TB of storage—all connected via 13.4 TBps of switching capacity on 27KW maximum load. IT cloud managers can also easily monitor and manage SYMKLOUD platforms individually or collectively with the System Manager 2.0 Console.
The result is the industry’s most powerful and TCO-efficient carrier-class converged platform for service providers seeking to capitalize on new revenue opportunities such as cloud-based mobile video, HD/HEVC TV video delivery, and Big Data/IoT staging—but who must manage their transition to future-state NSV/SDN in a disciplined, incremental manner.
SYMKLOUD MS2910 is also an attractive solution for bare-metal hypervisor implemetations.
SYMLAB: An On-demand Test Bed for ISVs
Kontron recognizes that service providers are highly dependent on ISVs for the applications that enable new, value-added market offerings. In addition to offering service providers the most compelling converged platform for NFV/SDN migration, Kontron is also providing ISVs with on-demand access to a production-like SYMKLOUD environment where they can rigorously test their applications under real-world conditions.
This SYMLAB environment gives ISVs and their service provider customers alike the highest level of confidence in the suitability of specific applications for specific infrastructure platforms from NEBS/ETSI carrier grade equipment to converged modular platforms such as SYMKLOUD. By taking advantage of SYMLAB, ISVs can also determine how to best leverage the SYMKLOUD platform for their own SaaS hosting facilties—or leverage it as their preferred hardware of choice for service provider clients.
“Telecom carriers, cable companies, cloud providers and next-generation content players know that to compete successfully in today’s rapidly evolving services market, they have to rapidly evolve both their infrastructure and their applications,” said Robert Courteau, Executive V.P., Communications BU, Kontron. “Kontron is the right technology partner for these service providers, because we offer them integrated carrier-class cloud hardware platforms intentially designed for an increasingly software-driven world.”
A major differentiating advantage of Kontron’s SYMKLOUD platform is the separation of its data and management planes. This separation ensures that even the most intense peaks in data traffic loads will not undermine the platform’s responsiveness to automated re-configurations or re-allocations of resources. Platforms that lack such separation are inherently unsuitable for SDN/NFV because they can become unresponsive to management commands as application workloads spike—which is often exactly when those commands are most critical for safeguarding service levels to the customer.
“As the move to NFV and SDN goes from theory to practice, service providers are likely to discover that ‘the devil is in the details,” said Antoine Sirois, Director, Product Management, Communications BU, Kontron. “That’s why they should exercise full technical due diligence as they specify, evaluate and implement converged infrastructure that can take them from their current state to a target state of high adaptability, extreme performance and low operating costs.”
Availability: The Kontron MS2910 and SYMLAB service are available, now.
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