Virtualization is a method of combining your network resources (and resources on a network) so that a user has shared access to all the resources. Virtualization optimizes usage, speed, reliability, flexibility, scalability, and security.

 

Recently, Matisse Networks (News - Alert) introduced vMETRO, a suite of new functions for their EtherBurst system, now capable of virtualizing metropolitan optical networks and IT resources across distributed datacenters and campus networks.

 

vMETRO enables enterprises to scale business-critical IT infrastructure beyond the physical power, space, and cooling limitations of a single site, enabling metro-wide datacenter capacity pooling, improved IT resource utilization and a scalable metro network infrastructure.

 

Whereas server and storage virtualization is a well-known methodology for improving resource utilization and simplifying data center management, the point-to-point nature of circuit WDM systems have impeded the extension of virtualization across the metro optical network. Now, however, Matisse’s vMETRO enables virtualization of both Ethernet switching and optical transponders so that servers, storage and bandwidth resources may be efficiently shared across the metro area.

 

EtherBurst is said to be the first system to fully integrate Ethernet and optical technologies. EtherBurst combines the operational simplicity and universal interoperability of Ethernet while providing the bandwidth and scalability of wave division multiplexing (WDM) optics. The new vMETRO capabilities make EtherBurst suited to help enterprises grow their metro networks to interconnect distributed datacenters and campus LANs.

 

“We are on the brink of advancing from the current era of virtualizing individual servers to true datacenter automation,” said Mark Bowker, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Next generation virtualization capabilities that dynamically provision resources such as storage logical unit numbers (LUN) over distributed arrays or migrate live compute instances between buildings with tools like VMware’s VMotion become possible when an enterprise has a high-capacity, low-latency interconnect such as Matisse Network’s EtherBurst.”

 

The components of vMETRO include Virtualized Metro Switching (vmSwitching) which makes it possible for an entire network of EtherBurst systems to operate as a single distributed Layer 2 Ethernet switch. High bandwidth and low-latency switching ensures the highest levels of application performance, even if server and storage resources are physically located in different datacenters.

 

Since the metro network of EtherBurst nodes are now manageable as a single entity, the entire metro network can be managed as any other Ethernet switch within the datacenter. IT personnel can use existing LAN management tools to configure and operate a metro-wide virtual network as used today to manage a virtualized network within a single datacenter.

 

Unlike circuit WDM systems which demand specialized optical engineering expertise to design, deploy, and maintain the Layer 1 network, EtherBurst can be managed and configured by anyone familiar with configuring Layer 2 Ethernet switches and standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

 

Another vMETRO feature, Optical VLANs, enables control of the logical grouping of virtualized IT resources throughout a metro region. Applications, servers and storage devices from various sites can all now be interconnected simultaneously to enable resource grouping and virtualization spanning multiple datacenters. Conventional circuit based WDM systems only provide point-to-point circuit connectivity and require the ongoing management of a separate Layer 1 network. In contrast, optical VLANs are managed using standard VLAN management interfaces, enabling end-to-end Layer 2 networking of distributed resources.

 

Matisse hasn’t ignored Quality of Service (QoSO) either. Their Metro-Wide Quality of Service (mQOS) is capable of dynamic bandwidth reallocation, shifting bandwidth in real-time between applications and between sites while ensuring higher priority applications receive all resources necessary for optimal operation. EtherBurst dynamically responds to changing traffic patterns to deliver bandwidth to the highest priority users and applications anywhere across the metro optical network. Distributed resources (any set of applications, servers and storage subsystems) can now be connected across a metro region as if they were all within a single facility, using a Matisse EtherBurst distributed switch.

 

The vMETRO suite of features is included in Matisse Networks’ EtherBurst 2.0 software release, which is now available.