Although data is increasingly being generated at the edge by sensors and smart devices, enterprises continue to face technology challenges to process and eventually generate useful insights from it. This is because they rely on legacy equipment that often makes this job inefficient and expensive.

Tacking this problem is the goal of the new data center switch announced this week by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and startup Pensando Systems Inc.

The distributed services switch enables enterprises to deploy software-defined stateful network and security services where data is created and processed, eliminating legacy appliances and host software needed to build the hybrid clouds demanded by modern applications, according to Frank Reichstein (pictured, left), senior director of platform engineering at Aruba.

“The Aruba networking team has been building network switches for the past 25 years … and as we’ve gone through, a few years ago we decided to make an evolution of our operating system to scale it up for the modern needs of the modern world,” he said. “And this included doing things like designing with a microservices-oriented architecture to provide for a high degree of resiliency throughout the product line and then being able to extend that single network operating system from the core to the edge of the network.”

Reichstein and Krishna Doddapaneni (pictured, right), vice president of software engineering at Pensando, spoke with Lisa Martin, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations event. They discussed the challenges companies face at the edge, the importance of what Aruba and Pensando call “the next evolution of switching architecture,” and the key features of the product. (* Disclosure below.)

New product category

The servers in data centers rely on networking equipment such as switches to exchange information with one another. Historically, the process of moving information between servers also involved another hardware component: appliances that encrypt traffic, track the health of the network, and perform other essential operational tasks necessary to keep a data center running smoothly.

Specialized network and cybersecurity appliances can represent a major expense for enterprises, according to Reichstein. Therefore, Aruba CX 10000 uses a programmable chip from Pensando to carry out those tasks historically performed by specialized hardware appliances. The idea is to boost data centers’ performance and reduce costs in the process, according to Doddapaneni.

“We’re creating a new product category that is for the features and capabilities that are not available in the market from any vendor, specifically providing stateful services … without the complexity of the service redirection,” he said. “This obviously also has a great operational model, great TCO and the functionality that customers never see.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations” event. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE