Software automation company Puppet Labs, Tuesday, said it is making
its software compatible with network and storage devices from a range of
suppliers. Puppet Labs, known mostly for server configuration has
partnered with network and storage companies including Cisco Systems Inc.CSCO +0.61%, Arista Networks Inc.ANET -0.26%, EMC Corp.EMC -0.34%, F5 Networks Inc.FFIV +0.30% and Cumulus Networks and others.
The move will let customers automate configuration of servers, switches and storage equipment with one software platform. There’s plenty of software to manage only networks or only storage. But there are fewer solutions for companies that want to use one platform to manage configuration across different types of data center equipment. “We’re knitting them together,” said Luke Kanies, CEO of Puppet Labs.
“Most of the focus and use of Puppet Labs and tools like it has been to automate [server] configuration changes,” said Ronni Colville, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Inc.IT +0.46%, in an email. Puppet Labs tools let IT operations treat the infrastructure more like app code, she said.
As data centers become larger and unwieldy, many companies are trying to automate them and fully control them through software. That means fewer technicians fiddling with boxes and the ability to configure hardware in minutes instead of weeks.
In January, Facebook Inc.FB -0.46% said it saved $1.2 billion over the last three years redesigning its data centers. Part of that effort involved making servers easier to manage with software. Last week, Facebook said it has engineered a networking switch called Wedge that can be more easily controlled by software.
These switches funnel information among servers in data centers and out to the Web. They’re also one of the last parts of the data center to be controlled by software. Configuring and managing these boxes has conventionally required more hands-on attention from network engineers than servers did.
Controlling networks primarily with software is expected to be big business. The global software-defined networking market is estimated to grow to $3.7 billion in 2019 from $290 million in 2014 according to an April report by Research and Markets.
Last week, Puppet Labs announced $40 million in funding from existing investors including Cisco and Google Ventures. In January 2013, VMware Inc.VMW -0.21% invested $30 million in the company. “VMware’s last investment was much larger and could be more of an indicator of a potential acquisition,” said Ms. Colville.
Write to rachael.king@wsj.com
http://gengwg.blogspot.com/
The move will let customers automate configuration of servers, switches and storage equipment with one software platform. There’s plenty of software to manage only networks or only storage. But there are fewer solutions for companies that want to use one platform to manage configuration across different types of data center equipment. “We’re knitting them together,” said Luke Kanies, CEO of Puppet Labs.
“Most of the focus and use of Puppet Labs and tools like it has been to automate [server] configuration changes,” said Ronni Colville, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Inc.IT +0.46%, in an email. Puppet Labs tools let IT operations treat the infrastructure more like app code, she said.
As data centers become larger and unwieldy, many companies are trying to automate them and fully control them through software. That means fewer technicians fiddling with boxes and the ability to configure hardware in minutes instead of weeks.
In January, Facebook Inc.FB -0.46% said it saved $1.2 billion over the last three years redesigning its data centers. Part of that effort involved making servers easier to manage with software. Last week, Facebook said it has engineered a networking switch called Wedge that can be more easily controlled by software.
These switches funnel information among servers in data centers and out to the Web. They’re also one of the last parts of the data center to be controlled by software. Configuring and managing these boxes has conventionally required more hands-on attention from network engineers than servers did.
Controlling networks primarily with software is expected to be big business. The global software-defined networking market is estimated to grow to $3.7 billion in 2019 from $290 million in 2014 according to an April report by Research and Markets.
Last week, Puppet Labs announced $40 million in funding from existing investors including Cisco and Google Ventures. In January 2013, VMware Inc.VMW -0.21% invested $30 million in the company. “VMware’s last investment was much larger and could be more of an indicator of a potential acquisition,” said Ms. Colville.
Write to rachael.king@wsj.com
http://gengwg.blogspot.com/
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