Open Compute Project (OCP) Accepts a DriveNets’ Proposed Network Sustainability Model, Enabled by Cloud Architecture

DriveNets announced that its white paper, ‘Topology and component description of DriveNets Network Cloud as a sustainable solution for multipurpose networking,’ has been published by the Open Compute Project (OCP). The paper highlights how cloud-native networks enhance sustainability and extend their lifespan with open standard hardware elements supporting multiple software-based networks.

DriveNets network sustainability model is based on the elastic scalability of the distributed disaggregated chassis (DDC) router. DDC supports scaling of network capacity by adding white boxes to an existing network infrastructure cluster, as opposed to traditional router chassis which require a wasteful rip-and-replace. In this first paper at OCP addressing sustainability of network equipment, Run Almog, Head of Product Strategy at DriveNets, explains how the network hypervisor at the core of DriveNets Network Cloud solution, abstracts the physical network resources, optimizing their utilization by the multiple applications running on top.

“Sustainability is a key topic of discussion and focus today. There is an increased awareness for its economic value and critical impact,” said Almog. “Service providers understand the operational simplicity and cost savings that can be achieved from optimizing the physical footprint, extending the network lifecycle and optimizing the utilization of resources. DriveNets Network Cloud can improve the sustainability of the largest networks in the world – a non-trivial impact.”

DriveNets’ paper addresses the following topics:

• Sustainability is improved when networks are based on software and can serve multiple purposes, utilizing the physical infrastructure as a shared resource.
• By combining multiple network elements (white boxes) into a cluster acting as a single entity (of up to hundreds of elements in a cluster), the network can be easily scaled up by adding more white boxes. This is transparent to the networking services running on top.
• Cloud-native software can easily support multiple networks and applications from one vendor or a collection of third-parties, and can easily scale functionality up and down on demand, without increasing networking footprint.

DriveNets will attend the OCP Global Summit 2021 on November 9-10 (booth C36). It will demonstrate a 350Tb/s router, hosted by Credo, with equipment from Credo and UfiSpace. The DDC demo can also be seen in this video.