ENP Guide to the Top Networking Equipment Vendors [PLACEHOLDER]

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION – YET; NOT FINAL; PLACEHOLDER FOR WORK IN PROGRESS]

Networking is fundamental to the operation of all modern enterprises. Simply put without networking equipment and the vendors that build it, there is nothing for applications to run across, no “pipes” to connect end users or to reach the cloud.

Networking hardware is in a very real sense the core foundation on which all other modern IT rests.

Networking Equipment

Modern networking encompasses a number of different areas with all manner of different equipment.

Since the beginning of the internet era, routers and switches have enabled all networks and that will remain the case for generations to come. Originally routing and switching was done entirely in hardware, but that is no longer the case. Hardware routers and switches are now also available in virtual appliances providing different modalities for enterprise deployments.

While routers and switches provide and enable connectivity, there is also often a need for other classes of devices that are also part of the networking topology including security devices, application delivery controllers (ADCs) and acceleration/optimization technologies. There is also a growing market for software defined technologies including Software Defined Networking (SDN) which disagregates networking hardware from the software that runs on it. As well, there is Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) which aggregates multiple public internet links to create a more robust WAN, that is cheaper than MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching). Managing networks, with visibility and monitoring tools is another key area of modern networking.

Enterprise networking is vast landscape, and when considering the top networking vendors, Enterprise Networking Planet is starting with networking hardware vendors including routers and switches for the basis of the list, with more specific vendor lists and product overviews to come in the weeks and months ahead.

Top 10 Vendors (in alphabetical order):

• Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE)
• Arista
• Cisco
• Dell EMC
• Extreme Networks
• F5 Networks
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
• Huawei
• Juniper
• Riverbed

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE)

Company Profile

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) got its start as the enterprise networking division of Alcatel-Lucent, which was formed in April of 2006 as a merger of French telecom vendor Alcatel and US.-based Lucent. Lucent itself was a spinoff from AT&T’s Bell Labs division in 1996.

ALE was spun out from Alcatel-Lucent in October 2014 to China Huaxin, in a deal valued at $268 million, with Alcatel-Lucent retaining a minority stake. Alcatel-Lucent itself was acquired by Nokia for $16.6 billion in 2015, taking control of the remaining service provider assets.

Products Lines

ALE’s products include both networking and unified communications hardware and services.

News:

Enterprise Networking Planet coverage of ALE

Arista

Company Profile

Arista Networks was founded in 2004 under the name Arastra and renamed itself Arista in 2008. The company had its IPO on the NYSE in June 2014 and trades under the symbol: ANET. From 2014- 2018, Arista was locked in multiple legal battles with Cisco over patent related issues. The patent dispute was settled in August 2018, with Arista paying Cisco $400 million.

Arista originally was focused solely on high-performance data center networks, but has expanded over the past year to include campus networks as well.

Products Lines

A unifying theme and technology across the Arista Networks portfolio is the company’s CloudVision capability which provides network-wide cloud automation and telemetry. Arista has also posted a quick reference guide to all of products that can be found here.

News Coverage:

Key Product Lines:

The Catalyst is Cisco’s primary campus switching branch, while the Nexus portfolio is aimed at data centers. On the routing side, Cisco has long had two primary products, the ISR (Integrated Services Router) and the ASR (Aggregation Services Router)

Cisco has also posted a quick reference guide to all of switch products here, and all of its routers here.

News Coverage:

Enterprise Networking Planet Coverage of Cisco

Dell EMC

Company Profile

Dell EMC includes the combined networking assets of both Dell and EMC which merged in September 2016, bringing together the two companies enterprise assets. Dell’s networking assets had been assembled over the years both organically and via acquisition including the acquisition of Force10 in July 2011, while EMC was largely known as a storage networking vendor.

Dell EMC provides networking hardware and software for data center, campus and branch networks, primarily focused on Ethernet switching. Dell has increasingly taken an open approach to the software the runs on its networking hardware in recent years, using the branding “Open Networking” which enables organization to choose the operating system they want to run on network hardware.

Key Product Lines:

Data Center Switches, PowerEdge Modular System Switches, Campus Switches

News Coverage:

Enterprise Networking Planet Coverage of Dell EMC

Extreme Networks

Company Profile

Extreme Networks has been (pardon the pun) extremely busy over the last few years adding new capabilities to its platform by way of multiple acquisitions. The company was founded back in 1996 and had its IPO in April 1999 on NASDAQ under the symbol EXTR.

In October 2016, Extreme Networks acquired Zebra Technologies for WLAN; in July 2017 Extreme acquired Avaya’s enterprise networking unit; in October 2017 Extreme acquired  the enterprise networking assets of Brocade. Over the course of 2018, Extreme Networks has integrated and consolidated its portfolio from all the different networking assets it has acquired. Extreme Networks provides technologies for both enterprise as well as service provider networks.

Key Product Lines:

News Coverage:

Enterprise Networking Planet Coverage of Extreme Networks

F5

Corporate Profile

F5 Networks got its start in 1996 and unlike the other vendors on this list, F5 is not focused on switch and routing, but rather has long been focused on load balancing technologies, which today are more commonly referred to as Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs).

The basic promise of F5’s ADCs is to to help accelerate and secure application delivery across enterprise, service provider and cloud netowrks.

Key Product Lines:

The BIG-IP platform is F5’s primary product that is available in multiple modalities and form factors including the iSeries, Viprion , virtual edition and Cloud Editions.

News Coverage:

Juniper

Corporate Profile

Juniper Networks was founded in 1996 and was initially focused on high-performance routing. The company expanded into enterprise  switches in 2008 and over the last decade has steadily grown its enterprise aspirations. Juniper is 2018 is focused on enabling multicloud networking, with a combination of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and intent, including both hardware and software assets.

Primary Product Lines:

EX and QFX series switches, MX routing platform, PTX Series Packet Transport Routers, T-4000 core router, Contrail SDN.

News Coverage:

Enterprise Networking Planet Coverage of Juniper

Riverbed

Corporate Profile

Riverbed was founded in 2002 with primary focus on WAN optimization and acceleration. The company had its IPO in 2006 and was public until 2015 when the company was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $3.6 billion. Riverbed itself has also grown via multiple acquisitions, most recently acquiring WiFi vendor Xirrus in April 2017.

Primary Product Lines:

SteelHead WAN Optimization appliances, SteelFusion Software-Defined Edge appliances, Xirrus WiFi

News Coverage:

Enterprise Networking Planet Coverage of Riverbed