Evaluating Merchant Silicon for Higher Education Networks
Tuesday, September 29 · 2:30–3:30 PM America/Denver · Main Room
Merchant silicon switching gives higher education institutions new options for building and operating campus and data center networks. As institutions look for ways to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and avoid vendor lock in, open networking platforms have become an increasingly attractive option.
This session shares Duke University's exploration of merchant silicon switches and open network operating systems, including SONiC. We'll discuss what motivated us to begin this work, our approach to evaluating the technology, and the insights we've gained while considering merchant silicon for a range of networking use cases.
Along the way, we've encountered opportunities, challenges, and tradeoffs that are relevant to any institution considering a similar path. Whether you're exploring merchant silicon for the first time or already evaluating it in your own environment, this session will provide practical perspective and lessons learned from Duke's experience.
Will Brocklesby, PhD
Duke