Pica8

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Pica8
Company typePrivate
IndustryCloud Networking, Open White Box Enterprise Networking
Founded2009
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California
,
USA
Key people
Brad Bullington (CEO)
James Liao (CTO & co-founder)
Lin Du (VP of Engineering & co-founder)
Niraj Jain (Head of International Business Operations)
ProductsSoftware -- Linux-based NOS, automated switch configuration
Websitepica8.com

Pica8, Inc. is a computer networking company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. Pica8 is a vendor of open-standards-based operating systems on white box network switches delivering software-defined networking (SDN) solutions[buzzword] for datacenter and cloud computing environments and traditional L2/L3 solutions[buzzword] for large enterprise customers. The company's products include a Linux-based L2/L3 and OpenFlow-supporting network operating system, PicOS, which is shipped as standalone software that can be loaded onto a range of 1/10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet switches based on commoditized ("white box") switches purchased from original design manufacturers (ODMs).[1]

The company's approach is to combine commodity network hardware (from manufacturers like Accton, Foxconn, Quanta[1]) with Debian Linux, L2/L3 protocol stacks, a full enterprise feature set, OpenFlow controller and Open vSwitch (OVS) to create both a more "democratic" SDN solutions[buzzword] with competitive price compared to conventional embedded switches[2][3][4][5][6] as well as more flexible and scalable disaggregated enterprise white box networking solutions.[buzzword]

History[edit]

The company was founded in 2009.[4][7] It launched a family of OpenFlow-enabled Ethernet switches in August 2009 and has been selling products ever since.[8]

In October 2012 Pica8 raised $6.6m in Series A funding from VantagePoint Capital Partners to support its sales and product development.[8][9] On 10 December 2012 the company exited stealth mode with introduction of SDN reference architecture aimed at cloud providers.[5][10]

By 2013, among about 100 Pica8's customers, including large service providers and hosting companies, were such companies as Baidu, Yahoo! Japan[6][8][11] and NTT Communications.[6]

In December 2013, the company launched the Pica8 SDN Starter Kit, an "out-of-the-box" kit that includes an open-source network controller, a programmable network tap, an open-source network intrusion detection system, and other components meant to give customers a complete SDN solution[buzzword], which would be quick to implement.[3]

In April 2014 Pica8 claimed to be the first vendor to support the latest version 1.4 of OpenFlow[12][13] and to have over 300 customers globally.[4]

By 2018, Pica8 grew to over 1,000 customers in over 40 countries, announcing a broad push into the enterprise campus and branch office markets in January.

Products[edit]

PicOS[edit]

PicOS (formerly known as XorPlus[9][14]) is a network operating system (NOS) that Pica8 has developed based on XORP, an eXtensible Open Router Platform.[14] The operation system works on an unmodified Linux kernel and is extended with a range of network and switching services.[8]

PicOS includes a traditional Layer-2 / Layer-3 switching mode (L2/L3 Mode) and has support for OpenFlow protocol, standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), through Open vSwitch (OVS). OVS runs as a process on the Debian Linux distribution.[14]

PicaPilot[edit]

In addition to PicOS, Pica8 offers a second core technology solution[buzzword] called PicaPilot, which was announced in May 2018. PicaPilot is an automated white box switch configuration and management application that runs on Pica8-enabled switches alongside PicOS. Designed as a replacement for legacy Ethernet switch stacks and chassis switches, PicaPilot compresses dozens of access- and aggregation-layer leaf-spine topology switches into a single layer and allows them to be managed as a single logical switch with a single consolidated IP address.

CrossFlow[edit]

On 10 November 2014 Pica8 announced CrossFlow, a new feature in the PicOS NOS that enables network managers to integrate OpenFlow applications and business policies with existing layer 2/layer 3 networks. Users can run layer 2/layer 3 protocols and OpenFlow protocols on all the switch ports in a network at the same time. OpenFlow can be used for policy-driven applications to bring business logic to the network. The traditional network can optimize packet transport and performance with protocols, such as OSPF, Spanning Tree, and BGP.[15][16]

Awards and recognitions[edit]

  • The 10 Coolest Networking Startups Of 2013 according to CRN (2013).[3]
  • AlwaysOn OnDemand Companies to Watch (2013).[17]
  • AlwaysOn OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies (2014).[18]
  • AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies (2014, along with companies like Acquia, Couchbase, Dropbox, MongoDB).[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Matsumoto, Craig (17 February 2014). "Pica8 ODM Still Worries About That 'White Box' Stigma". SDNCentral. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  2. ^ Berndtson, Chad (3 January 2013). "13 SDN Startups To Keep An Eye On In 2013". CRN. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Bent, Kristin (13 December 2013). "The 10 Coolest Networking Startups Of 2013". CRN. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Pica8 Named One of 10 Coolest Networking Startups of 2013 by Computer Reseller News". Reuters. 8 January 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  5. ^ a b Deutscher, Maria (11 December 2012). "Pica8 Debuts Industry First OpenFlow Architecture". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  6. ^ a b c Higginbotham, Stacey (17 February 2012). "Pica8: A startup taking advantage of network commoditization". GigaOM. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  7. ^ Duffy, Jim (10 December 2012). "SDN switch company takes aim at the cloud". NetworkWorld. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d Morgan, Timothy Prickett (11 December 2012). "Pica8 bundles up OpenFlow controller, switches for SDN newbies". The Register. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  9. ^ a b Chua, Roy (12 December 2012). "Flush with Cash, Pica8 Makes Move into Cloud Environments". SDNCentral. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  10. ^ Burt, Jeffrey (11 December 2012). "Pica8 Rolls Out SDN Reference Architecture for Cloud Providers". eWEEK. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  11. ^ Bort, Julie (19 January 2013). "8 Enterprise Startups Creating A Brand-New, $4 Billion Market". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  12. ^ McGillicuddy, Shamus (1 May 2014). "Pica8 claims to be first vendor to support OpenFlow 1.4". SearchSDN. TechTarget. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  13. ^ Kerravala, Zeus (1 May 2014). "Are these the first OpenFlow 1.4 switches ready for prime time?". NetworkWorld. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  14. ^ a b c "FAQ". Pica8. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  15. ^ Chirgwin, Richard (10 November 2014). "Pica8 adds 'transitional' SDN capabilities". The Register. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  16. ^ Weissberger, Alan (1 December 2014). "Highlights of Open Server Summit: Nov 11-13, 2014 in Santa Clara, CA". viodi.com. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  17. ^ "The 2013 OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies". AlwaysOn. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  18. ^ "The 2014 OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies". AlwaysOn. 4 June 2014. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  19. ^ "Announcing the 2014 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies". AlwaysOn. 19 July 2014. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
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