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Pica8 Extends SDN Leadership During 2015 With Over 500 Customers
[December 08, 2015]

Pica8 Extends SDN Leadership During 2015 With Over 500 Customers


Pica8 Inc., the one-stop source for white box networking, today announced that it is finishing 2015 by extending its leadership in white box SDN switching. Milestones in 2015 included an expanding its rapidly growing ecosystem of partners and industry-leading software support for software-defined network switching. During 2015, Pica8 doubled its partner ecosystem and remained the only network operating system (NOS) vendor to support OpenFlow 1.4 and Open-vSwitch (OVS) 2.3, making it the leading supplier of turnkey SDN switching solutions for service providers and enterprises.

By offering an open platform, Pica8 and its early adopter customers helped the company shape both the ecosystem and the model for successfully scaling its business. Pica8 doubled its direct customer base to more than 500 customers and grew its global OEM business with the addition of Germany's Kontron (News - Alert). 2015 saw Pica8 significantly expand its ecosystem of hardware and software partners, giving customers greater freedom to design a customized network solution using a range of proven hardware and software products.

Pica8 achieved several milestones in 2015.

New Go-To-Market Partners Accelerate Pica8 Adoption

Pica8's go-to-market partners include Edge-Core Networks, HP, and Penguin Computing.

  • In October, HP and Pica8 announced an agreement under which HP will offer and support Pica8's PicOS™ NOS for HP Altoline switches, allowing customers to leverage more than 40 SDN applications through HP's App Store.

Broader ASIC Support Extends Switching Options

In the ASIC arena, Pica8 was the first to offer true ASIC independence in its PicOS NOS. Pica8 supports:

  • Broadcom's (News - Alert) Tomahawk, Trident+ Trident II, Firebolt 3, and Helix 4 ASICs
  • Cavium's XPliant switching ASIC.



ODM Ecosystem Grows

  • Pica8's ecosystem of ODM and integrator partners now includes Accton / Edge-Core, Alpha / Netmag, Celestica (News - Alert), Foxconn, Interface Masters, Inventec, and Quanta.

Industry-Leading SDN Controller Support


  • Pica8's NOS supports a range of SDN controllers, including HP's VAN, Open Daylight, ONOS, and Ryu.
  • PicOS has steadily gained in features and functionality while remaining the only NOS to support hardware-based OpenFlow 1.4 and OVS 2.3.
  • PicOS runs on unmodified Linux and is controller-agnostic, ASIC-agnostic, and supports a JUNOS-like CLI for Layer 2 / Layer-3 provisioning.
  • PicOS's unique CrossFlow Networking feature enables users to implement PicOS on legacy networks and then integrate SDN at their own pace, all on the same switch.

Third-Party Software Support Builds

Rounding out its ecosystem, Pica8 supports a growing portfolio of third-party software, including:

  • Applications in HP's App store
  • Atrium's edge-router open-source management software
  • Broadcom's BroadView instrumentation software
  • CPLANE's configuration automation software
  • ECODE Network's VPN provisioning application
  • Elbrys Network's SDN Wi-Fi productivity application
  • KulCloud's SDN fabric management solution
  • Overlay solutions from Midokura and VMware.

These relationships support Pica8's philosophy of choice and flexibility for customers, making Pica8 the one-stop shop for SDN on white box solutions.

Finally, Pica8 expanded its executive team by naming industry veteran Dan Tuchler as VP of product management. Tuchler will drive product strategy for Pica8 and will help shape the company's technology vision.

"2015 was a year in which Pica8 made rapid progress toward executing on its business model of being the Microsoft of networking software," said Steve Garrison, VP of marketing at Pica8. "We now have the critical mass to leap ahead in the market by offering proven hardware-agnostic SDN solutions to our customers."

About Pica8, Inc.

Since 2009, Pica8 is the one-stop source for white box networking with PicOS™, a network operating system that enables organizations and original equipment manufacturers to easily integrate Layer-2 / Layer-3 networking and software-defined networking (SDN) using commodity switches. Pica8's solutions enable real time, hands free provisioning that fits today's complex networks and scales with them to enable transformation. PicOS supports an industry-standard CLI for Layer-2 / Layer-3, unmodified Linux, and OpenFlow 1.4. Pica8 provides PicOS on both pre-loaded switching hardware or as standalone software for a growing list of compatible bare metal switches. Pica8 is a global company headquartered in Palo Alto (News - Alert), California. For more information, visit www.pica8.com or follow @pica8 on Twitter (News - Alert).


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