Pentair with its Schroff brand and Radisys have collaborated on an open source rack-level hardware system specifically designed to meet the next-generation requirements of the telecom industry. The resulting open source hardware design leverages Open Compute Project (OCP) principles, with optimisations for telco central offices and service provider-oriented data centres. Their joint design innovations have been accepted by the OCP as the CG-OpenRack-19 specification.
Service providers are transitioning their networks from traditional central offices to virtualised data centres in order to meet demand for real-time service delivery while saving capital and operating expense. This migration from purpose-built systems to software-based applications running on commercially available infrastructure is driving a broader ecosystem that is increasingly using open source software and hardware systems.
The joint offering from Pentair and Radisys combines Radisys’ DCEngine network functions virtualisation (NFV) platform with Schroff’s ServCite open rack-scale hardware system, to create the infrastructure that service providers need to deliver an agile software-driven approach to deploying new services quickly.
“There is a robust open source ecosystem developing that will drive the future of next-gen networks, and Schroff is embracing this new model,” said Daniel Stirpe, vice president and general manager, Schroff. “Radisys is an agile and flexible partner, and our collaboration together highlights what a model partner relationship should look like with the resulting delivery of a new open source rack-level solution that meets the specific needs of communications service providers.”