Towards an Open Data Center with an Interoperable Network: Enterprise Networking using Open Industry Standards

Recently there has been an increased focus on transforming data center networks to meet the requirements of next generation, highly virtualized data centers. This paper describes a network architecture based on open industry standards which addresses many of the concerns facing traditional Ethernet, storage, and wide area networks. Various aspects of this architecture will be discussed, including layer 3 equal cost multipathing, softwaredefined networking and OpenFlow, lossless Ethernet, and extended distance connectivity with ultra-low latency networks. Examples will be given based on multiple vendor products which have demonstrated interoperability based on this approach.