Gigamon introduces visibility software for white box hardware

Pervasive traffic visibility assumes ever-greater importance as organisations cope with an increase in the number and complexity of network security threats, the deployment of distributed applications over virtualised infrastructure, and the potential ‘blind spots’ created by encapsulated and encrypted traffic. Migration to next-generation network architectures such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) or Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) put a spotlight on the critical need for pervasive visibility.

The new addition to the Gigamon portfolio works seamlessly with the existing components of the Visibility Fabric, and in doing so empowers customers to choose a turnkey solution for the edge of their fabric or, if their strategy and resources permit, white box edge hardware powered by Gigamon software. Regardless of the path customers choose, they benefit from a common operational model for their entire visibility infrastructure from the edge through to the core of Gigamon’s highly intelligent, scalable and agile fabric. While the edge of the Visibility Fabric represents a location in the architecture where GigaVUE-OS powered white box hardware is a relevant and appropriate option, the core of the fabric will continue to require the combination of compute and connectivity that delivers deep, line rate traffic inspection and analysis that demands the scale and performance of a purpose-built appliance.

“With the announcement of GigaVUE-OS for white box platforms, Gigamon is essentially extending the edge layer of the visibility architecture to the high volume, ‘TAP all’ world of the data centre operator”, said Ananda Rajagopal, vice president product line management at Gigamon. “By managing the entire visibility infrastructure through a centralised Fabric Manager, operators can lay the foundation for truly active visibility built around Software Defined Visibility.”

The new offering will be compatible with the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) boot loader that allows multiple operating systems to leverage the same underlying hardware. As part of this initiative, GigaVUE-OS will be initially certified to operate with select hardware from QCT (Quanta Cloud Technology) and Agema Systems, Inc., two of the world’s leading white box suppliers.

This latest initiative from Gigamon has been well received by customers and industry analysts: “Gigamon has taken an innovative approach to supporting white box hardware – one of the key components of open networking. By supporting GigaVUE-OS software on white box hardware and by managing both white box and turnkey solutions in a holistic manner, Gigamon’s new offering solves a significant pain point for Web-scale IT organisations that are looking to expand the scope of visibility in their data centre infrastructure,” observed Nick Lippis, co-founder and co-chair at Open Networking User Group (ONUG).

“Intuit is very pleased to see the market leader in visibility, Gigamon, extend its rich visibility solution to a white box,” commented Ted Turner, senior network engineer at Intuit. “Gigamon is the only player in the visibility space to offer their customers the choice of a white box edge node and a turnkey edge node. Combined with their highly intelligent core nodes and centralised Fabric Manager, Gigamon’s solution is a terrific proof point to organisations like Intuit, who need to cost-effectively expand the scope of visibility with a common operating software platform.”

"Bare metal options continue to gain traction in Web-scale datacentres," said Mike Yang, general manager of QCT. "Customers of QuantaMesh series bare metal switches can now easily integrate GigaVUE-OS visibility software, allowing rich visibility to be extended to every rack in their infrastructure."

"As data centres continue to expand, operators will have a need for rich visibility at the edge. The combination of world-class hardware from Agema Systems, Inc. the leading provider of critical white box rack solutions to Data Centres, and market-leading visibility software from Gigamon, will enable white box adopters to get the assurance of rich visibility in their infrastructure," said Nick Milo, Vice President of Sales, Agema Systems, Inc.