Kaloom, a start-up based in Montreal with offices in Santa Clara, California, introduced a Software Defined Fabric (SDF) for automating and optimizing data center networks based on open networking white box switches.
Kaloom’s SDF, which is designed to virtualize the data center, leverages P4-based programming capabilities initially in switching silicon from Barefoot Networks. A physical data center can be partitioned into multiple independent and fully isolated virtual data centers (vDCs). Each vDC operates with its own Virtual Fabric (vFabric), which can host millions of IPv4 or IPv6 based tenant networks. Its software-defined fabric offer interfaces to standard orchestration systems and SDN controllers such as Openstack (ML2), Kubernetes Container Networking Interface (CNI) and OpenDaylight (NETCONF). Initially, supported white boxes include Accton, Delta and Foxconn, which have been designed for hyperscale and distributed data centers. The SDF features self-forming and self-discovery capabilities, as well as zero-touch provisioning of the virtual network and virtual components with automated software upgrades.
Kaloom said its solution delivers feature velocity and reduced network latency compared to conventional fixed form switches or SDN approaches from conventional vendors. The feature velocity is enabled by the P4 programming language. The increased performance is obtained by offloading data plane functions from virtual machines and containers. Kaloom claims its SDF delivers an increase of up to 2x in throughput with a 7x reduction in latency, improving overall networking efficiency by a factor of 5-10x.
“The general availability of the SDF is a great achievement by our team. Our product has been tested by several beta customers, which require lower-latency solutions, and it was very well received,” said Laurent Marchand, CEO of Kaloom. “Since founding Kaloom, our goal has been to deliver the most automated, programmable and scalable data center networking fabric at the lowest cost in the industry and we’re proud to say that we’ve exceeded that goal.”
The Kaloom Software Defined Product Family consists of the following components:
- Kaloom Software Defined Fabric
- Kaloom vRouter
- Kaloom vSwitch
- Kaloom vGW (virtual gateway)
Kaloom was founded by Laurent Marchand (CEO). The company has received funding from Fonds FTQ, Somel Investments and MBUZZ.
