Open Network Featured Article

When companies deploy new digital solutions, they want the process to be as simple as possible while increasing efficiency. This is easier said than done when you take into consideration different vendors, hardware and software that are part of the ecosystem of any given organization. By achieving the Red Hat (News - Alert) OpenStack Platform 8 certification for its Open Networking Suite (ONS) 5.0 for OpenStack, PLUMgrid will be able to simplify and accelerate OpenStack cloud deployments for organizations looking to deliver advanced network services.

The PLUMgrid ONS is the most integrated SDN software in the industry and designated as “OpenStack Compatible” by the OpenStack Foundation for up to date releases. This has allowed the company to give enterprises and service providers the tools they need to build private, public, or hybrid OpenStack clouds that need virtual network infrastructure that is agile, intelligent and resilient.

The certification from Red Hat is going to extend these capabilities so PLUMgrid can offer the solution organizations need for deploying virtualized compute and storage solutions, while at the same time enabling fully secure, scalable, and automated cloud environments. It also means Red Hat customers can be assured when they run PLUMgrid ONS via an OpenStack Networking (Neutron) plug-in on Red Hat OpenStack platforms, everything will work.

In addressing the usability, Wendy Cartee, vice president of Product Management at PLUMgrid, said, "End customers and channel partners require certified solutions that seamlessly integrate to confidently roll out and maintain OpenStack clouds. PLUMgrid ONS 5.0 with RHEL OSP 8 certification gives customers and partners the confidence they need and simplifies deployments to enable improved time to service and ROI."

Platform 8 is the latest version of Red Hat's highly scalable platform based on the OpenStack community "Liberty" release. It forms a production-ready cloud platform by delivering optimized storage and management capabilities through the native inclusion of Red Hat Ceph Storage and Red Hat CloudForms,

In order to achieve the Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 certification, PLUMgrid's ONS 5.0 had to pass an extensive test suite to ascertain compatibility with OpenStack APIs and other functions. This lets Red Hat customers quickly use the new updates and improvements in Platform 8.

In addition to the certification, the ONS 5.0 platform recently also introduced SDN support for Docker containers while expanding gateway integration for different systems. This includes the Cisco (News - Alert) Nexus 9000, IPv6, PLUMgrid SmartLogs and OpenStack release Liberty and Kilo.  

With security still one of the biggest concerns for cloud deployments, PLUMgrid tackles this particular problem by securing cloud infrastructures with virtual domains and uses PLUMgrid Life Cycle Manager to streamline installation of ONS on OpenStack distributions. This type of support provides enterprise-ready OpenStack cloud solution for easy and quick deployment with multi-tenant security features and high availability.

Cloud technology is transforming industries across all sectors by providing faster innovations, deployments and transitions. However, it requires virtual networking solutions that can meet the scalability and flexibility agile businesses need. With the certification from Red Hat, PLUMgrid now has the ability to offer these options to its customers.