Juniper releases OpenContrail codebase to Linux Foundation
Juniper Networks is upping competition with Cisco, VMware and other enterprises taking up space in the cloud market with the introduction of Contrail Enterprise Multicloud at the company’s NXTWORK conference.
Juniper is a provider of networking devices like routers, switches, network management software, network security products and software-defined networking (SDN) technology. Juniper originally purchased SDN company Contrail in 2012, releasing a line of Juniper Contrail products to the open source community the following year. OpenContrail serves as a scalable network-virtualization control plane, which provides both SDN and security.
Developers didn’t exactly flock to Juniper’s open source projects. The company received only two backers, AT&T and Japanese telecommunications company NTT. Although, it should be noted open source projects headed by a single organization are often challenged to lure developer interest.
Juniper’s Contrail Enterprise Multicloud aims to address technical challenges attached to operating in a multi-cloud environment through a single console, which orchestrates and provisions network applications running across public and private clouds. With a release date scheduled for early next year, the new product will compete with other cloud management platforms like Cisco’s ACI and VMware’s NSX, which are widely used in data centers.
Juniper also announced it is open sourcing the codebase of OpenContrail to the Linux Foundation. The company said this will help foster innovation from contributors once the Linux foundation takes over OpenContrail’s codebase.
“Juniper’s focus on cloud-grade networking means delivering on the promises of open and scalable multicloud networking options. OpenContrail is a key part of that strategy. Our goal of placing OpenContrail’s codebase with the Linux Foundation shows Juniper’s commitment to open networking and open source overall,” said Randy Bias, vice president of technology – cloud software at Juniper Networks.
“Over the past year, we have been working closely with the community to transition the governance for OpenContrail’s codebase because we believe it has the unique opportunity to be a ubiquitous cloud-grade network fabric used everywhere. We look forward to continuing our close participation with the community once this project takes on new life under the Linux Foundation.”
