Listen to this story
Arista Networks enters its third phase of routing solutions with the expansion and simplification of multi cloud edge, metro edge and 5G edge designs. Arista’s EOS (Extensible Operating System) enhancements for cloud and service provider clients would transform edge and backbone routing, Arista’s EOS enhancements would help clients migrate from legacy routers to software-driven, highly available and scale-out architectures for faster time to revenue and lower OPEX.
Arista’s flagship EOS software would help to simplify routing and lower OPEX with a single software train. As a “modern” networking operating system without the baggage of outdated protocol stacks, EOS provides a standard network-wide automation foundation for “scalable, secure, and efficient” operations.
Based on Arista’s new “cloud-grade” routing principles, the new capabilities for virtual private networking and traffic engineering allow three more edge use cases – for multi cloud, metro, and 5G RAN. These key attributes, driving the next phase of cloud-grade routing for new edge profiles include:
- Multi Cloud Edge – The new cloud edge, formed by the cloud footprint at the network edge to offer services closer to the end consumer, is being developed by demand for public cloud services. To offer uninterrupted service that scales internationally, cloud edges are being created globally, with 100G/400G directly connecting to the cloud, based on a repeatable Layer 3 architecture, common software-driven provisioning, and programmatic traffic steering.
- Metro Edge – For service providers, legacy router designs are deteriorating quality and end-user experiences. Service providers are updating their metro ethernet edge with CAPEX efficient, high density merchant silicon-based 100G/400G routing solutions to satisfy the increasing bandwidth demand and quicker connection for E-LINE and E-LAN services. In addition, to save money on OPEX, service providers would reduce protocol complexity by using a single protocol for numerous edge VPN services and automating the metro fabric, resulting in quicker and more scalable service delivery.
- 5G RAN Edge – Traditional mobile backhaul is being disaggregated by 5G design, which is bringing the public cloud footprint into the RAN (Radio Access Network) for real-time localized service upgrades. To meet bandwidth demand from distributed nodes and radically scaled user/device and traffic profiles, 5G edge requires a scale-out repeatable routing design with high speed, high performance connectivity, a single OS for open standards-based protocols, and a consistent automation framework across mobile backhaul and Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) deployments, enabling Opex efficiency and quicker time to market for new services.
Arista expands outside the data center to replace routers with routing, using a cloud-first approach to contemporary software concepts. The Arista R-Series systems, which target use cases in Internet peering, Internet exchange networks, and Telco NFV data centers, were introduced in 2016, kicking off this routing journey. Arista’s routing solutions grew to include content distribution networks, provider edge, and core routing in 2018.
Based on leading merchant silicon platforms with high performance 10G/25G/100G/200G/400G connection, open standards with EVPN, and Segment Routing, these cloud-grade routing concepts would support effective routing transformations.
The new routing use cases are now available in the current EOS release, which is a single software train that runs across all of Arista’s devices. The Arista R-series would offer the highest performance, scalability, and port density. The R3-Series’ newest platform breadth and flexibility include:
7800R3 and 7500R3 modular systems scaling to 460Tbps of capacity
- New 7500R3 and 7800R3 line cards with native 25G SFP ports for flexible scaleout of edge routing applications
- Expanded 7800R3 range with 16-slots for up to 576 400G or 768 100G ports
7280R3 Series of 1U and 2U systems scales up to 9.6Tbps with 24 ports of 400G in 1U and with newly released options expanding the solutions for network edge
- 7280CR3MK-32P4S and 7280CR3MK-32D4S with 32 100G ports and four 400G ports providing both routing scale and integrated MACsec encryption at 100G
- 7280CR3-36S and 7280CR3K-36S, offering 36 100G ports and flexible port modes for all network edge roles from 10G to 400G
- 7280SR3M-48YC8, offering 48 25G ports plus 8 100G ports with MACsec encryption
- 7280SR3-40YC6, offering 40 25G ports plus 6 100G ports for aggregation and access deployments