Arista Networks

With the recognition that more OBs would require UHD capability along with a fully IP end-to-end workflow, in 2016, Timeline Television began examining the possibility of building a state-of-the-art, triple expanding OB truck to support fully uncompressed 4K/UHD, IP and High Dynamic Range workflows. The truck would be based around the SMPTE 2110 and SMPTE 2022 standards that define transport and timing protocols for audio, video and metadata over an IP network. The design would use a number of elements from broadcast technology supplier SAM but when it came to core IP switching, the choices were limited as Dan McDonnell, Managing Director and Founder of Timeline Television explains. “We needed a high density switch with 100G ports and support for 4 lanes of 25G with nonblocking architecture as unlike a data network, we can’t drop any packets. If you look at the market, that rules out the vast majority of vendors and in our test the Arista 7504R was able to handle everything we threw at it”

Picturemaxx faced significant challenges with its legacy Infiniband server interconnect, which suffered from poor reliability, lack of visibility, and frequent downtimes. The complexity of the system and compatibility issues with Linux-based card drivers exacerbated the situation, leading to concerns about the long-term viability of the platform. A minor technical issue that resulted in a significant outage highlighted the need for a more reliable and visible network infrastructure. With growing demand and surges in media transactions during major events, Picturemaxx needed a robust solution to support its complex workflows and ensure seamless delivery of media assets.

Since its foundation in 1993, The Sanger Institute has provided the ability to conduct research at scale and engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease across the world. Many of the projects rely on genome research which in turn means the Institute is at the leading-edge of genomics technology development and implementation. This has led to Innovation in aggregation, analysis and interpretation of large quantities of genomic data as part of both local and global collaborative research initiatives with international partners. With vast quantities of scientific research data within its systems and ongoing projects generating tens of terabytes of new data each day, its information technology infrastructure is a vital element of the Institute’s ability to deliver new scientific breakthroughs. The Institute runs one of the largest computing resources in the UK with over 20,000 CPU cores and 40 petabytes of storage, both of which are expected to increase by a third over the next few years. However, one of the challenges it faces is the ability to efficiently allocate and scale resources for projects as needed. The Institute had grappled with this problem in the past when looking at how it could provide IT resources for organisations that had spun out of the Institute and created a small private cloud. Yet scaling the previously successful design for the much larger central IT function required a design rethink.

Merseyrail, a UK-based railway network serving the Liverpool area, was seeking to keep up with ever-growing passenger demand for WiFi access. The challenge? Merseyrail needed to provide WiFi to riders not only in their aboveground stations, but also to passengers traveling below ground as well. Considering Merseyrail is one of the most heavily utilized railway networks in the UK, carrying approximately 110,000 passengers each weekday, this was going to be no small challenge.

For NEP UK, the challenge was to deliver scalable and flexible outside broadcasting capabilities for large-scale events using IP technology. Traditional SDI-based workflows were limited, prompting the need for a more adaptable IP-based approach. NEP UK aimed to create two new IP-capable outside broadcast trucks, Venus and Ceres, to be used at major events. These trucks needed to accommodate multiple uncompressed UHD channels and provide the flexibility to link equipment silos like trucks, flyaways, and local broadcast centers into a single homogenous system. The challenge also included devising a modular hardware platform and implementing a control and monitoring system for easy reconfiguration.

The University of Winchester faced a significant challenge in upgrading its campus network to handle the projected increase in data traffic over the next five years. The existing network infrastructure was limited to data streams of 1 gigabit per second, which was insufficient to meet the growing demands of students and staff. The university's open BYOD policy, the installation of next-generation wireless access points, and the support of over 240 applications, including Moodle and Microsoft Office 365, further exacerbated the need for a faster and more reliable network. Additionally, the network needed to be dynamic and flexible to accommodate the changing needs of academics and students across its two campuses.

Following a major merger, Helvetia faced the challenge of consolidating its data centres and upgrading its network infrastructure. The merger involved five data centres, 1600 servers, and over 300 applications, creating a complex IT environment. The primary goal was to streamline operations, reduce complexity, and enhance automation. Helvetia's existing network infrastructure needed an upgrade to support future growth and operational efficiency. The company evaluated various software defined networking technologies to find a solution that would integrate well with its existing VMware and Cisco systems. The decision to use VMware NSX as the core software defined networking technology was driven by its flexibility and compatibility with a broad ecosystem of vendors.

Taboola, the world's largest discovery platform, faced a challenge in upgrading its network capabilities to support the delivery of over 360 billion recommendations a month. With global sites and thousands of physical servers, Taboola needed to move away from simple layer 2 switching to a more intelligent layer 3 architecture. The existing network switching architecture was becoming a bottleneck, and there was a need for more performance and scalability from 10Gbps to 25Gbps per server, along with 100G uplinks. Simplified management capability and the ability to perform real-time upgrades to switches without major engineering projects were also required. Additionally, Taboola was exploring software-defined networking and internal clouds but wanted to maintain flexibility and avoid vendor lock-in.

mixi faced performance issues due to burst traffic during peak times, which affected the stability of their services. The operation team identified that the cache servers were causing the problem, as they were maxing out server throughput at peak times. Despite having available capacity, the switches were experiencing drops in throughput. mixi decided to replace the edge switches to address this issue and accommodate future growth.

The Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) faced challenges with its existing network infrastructure, which was becoming a bottleneck due to the increasing volume of data from advances in life sciences imaging and sequencing technologies. The lab's 120-core compute cluster was insufficient to handle the growing demand, and the Gigabit Ethernet network was struggling to cope with data movement to local storage and network-attached storage arrays. With plans to add more compute clusters, the IT department needed to upgrade its core switching technology to eliminate the bottleneck and support the lab's expanding computational needs.

Exa Networks faced a significant challenge due to the growing demand for bandwidth driven by increased use of video and internet resources in schools. Their existing infrastructure, based on MPLS technology, was becoming insufficient to meet the needs of their expanding customer base, which includes over 10% of UK primary and secondary schools. The company was also constrained by limited space at its main data centers in London, which were reaching capacity. Relocating these data centers would have incurred significant capital expenditure and increased energy consumption costs. Additionally, the core Juniper switches in their network, which had served them well for five years, were not capable of scaling up to the 100Gbps capacities that future demand would likely require. Exa Networks needed a solution that could provide raw throughput, scalability, and reliability, all while maintaining a cost-effective approach.

RACSA faced the challenge of designing a cloud computing architecture that was both high-performing and energy-efficient. The need for high bandwidth access and reliable data center performance was crucial to offset the lower performance of client PCs used by subscribers. Additionally, government energy mandates required the design to be as energy-efficient as possible, which was challenging given the cooling demands in Costa Rica's tropical climate. RACSA opted for containerized data centers to minimize the carbon footprint, but this introduced the requirement for high performance in a compact space. Storage systems were already compact, limiting options for higher density or performance, but RACSA was committed to implementing the best-performing and most efficient technologies in their cloud applications solution.

Enterprise IT Organizations are under increasing pressure to lower both operating expenses (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX), while maintaining a high level of service to its end users. In this case study, we will discuss how Littleton Regional Healthcare (LRH) was able to achieve this goal over a 3-year period with the winning combination HPE/Aruba and Arista in a new infrastructure. Prior to implementing their new infrastructure, LRH was suffering from network instability and rising OPEX costs on their IT Infrastructure. LRH reached out to its incumbent vendor, looking for a solution to these issues. The incumbent vendor was unable to produce a cost effective network design, not even able to correctly architect a solution that was compatible within the incumbent vendor’s own end-to-end portfolio.

Options needed to reduce latency and stop packet loss as part of its managed services offering to over 200 leading financial institutions. The company provides a managed colocation and proximity services platform that gives customers access to all the key liquidity centres globally across all asset classes. With growing traffic volumes and increasing demand for ultra-low latency, Options faced issues with packet dropping and unacceptable levels of latency. The existing switch series was reaching end-of-life, prompting the need for replacement switching technologies.

In the competitive restaurant, nightclub, and hotel industries, TAO Group's key differentiator is its focus on providing an exceptional guest experience. This includes a complete sensory experience from the moment a guest enters, encompassing lighting, food, ambiance, presentation, and technology. WiFi is seen as an invisible enabler of this experience, allowing TAO to better understand its guests and offer innovative services. However, the WiFi solution must also be secure, providing comprehensive security against wireless intrusions and ensuring maximum privacy protection for guests. PCI compliance is another top priority for TAO's IT team.

To continue to meet client demand for additional bandwidth and services, HEAnet is constantly planning, developing, and upgrading its infrastructure. The recent rapid growth in demand for co-location, mirroring, streaming, and virtualization services has highlighted the need for cost-effective, high aggregate upstream bandwidth capable of delivering these fast provisioning services. Aggregation and multiple Gigabit connections were becoming unwieldy and increasingly expensive, making cost-effective 10 GbE (gigabit Ethernet) switching instrumental in HEAnet’s plan to extend its managed service provision. The primary concern was to find the best solution that could provide 'hot standby' capability, while also considering cost, space, and power consumption.

The Fireman Hospitality Group faced significant challenges with their existing WiFi infrastructure, which was primarily composed of consumer-grade access points. These deployments were inadequate to meet the growing demand for high-performance WiFi from both customers and staff. The network was inconsistent, difficult to manage, and lacked enterprise features necessary for trusted performance. As a result, the group experienced negative feedback from customers and staff, including poor Yelp reviews and frequent complaints. The need for a robust, cloud-based solution that could be centrally managed and accommodate the unique requirements of each location became a top priority for IT Director Rocky Lucia.

HOPUS faced rapid growth that was pushing the limits of its legacy network architecture. The company needed a more scalable and higher density platform to meet its service level agreements (SLAs) and provide flexible deployment scenarios. The existing network, built on donated Brocade switches, was insufficient to handle the increasing traffic volumes. HOPUS aimed to deliver the best quality of service while maintaining transparent and predictable revenue streams for internet operators. The challenge was to find a solution that could offer the necessary scale and economics to support its unique business model and growing community of internet service and content providers.