Avaya Supports Net Virtualization With 802.1aq Support
By implementing the latest 802.1aq spec, Avaya says it's bringing flatter, virtualization-friendly to large networks.
By implementing the latest 802.1aq spec, Avaya says it's bringing flatter, virtualization-friendly to large networks.
Avaya is now implementing the new IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging standard, a straight line approach to help networks take the shortest path between two points. Avaya's embrace of 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging is an extension of its Virtual Enterprise Network Architecture (VENA) virtualization architecture, which was announced in November 2010.
Steve Bandrowczak, vice president and general manager at Avaya Data Solutions, explained to InternetNews.com that virtualization deployment to date has been limited to virtual servers within the walls of a data center. With VENA, the goal is to virtualize the data center across the enterprise and across multiple data centers.
"We're giving our customers the ability to flatten networking, with less complex routing trees, and now specifically we're using Shortest Path Bridging," Bandrowczak said. "More importantly this sets up an architecture that allows our customers to turn on services and applications in hours, instead of weeks or months."
Avaya is specifically embracing 802.aq for its ERS 8600 and 8800, Ethernet Routing Switching portfolio. Avaya Data Solutions and the ERS production portfolio came to the company in 2009 by way of the $900 million acquisition of Nortel's enterprise business unit..
