Arista Networks, noted for its high performance Ethernet data center switches, has taken its first direct step into WAN routing with new software, hardware and services, an enterprise-class system designed to link critical resources with core data-center and campus networks.  The Arista WAN Routing System combines three new networking offerings: enterprise-class routing platforms, carrier/cloud-neutral internet transit capabilities, and the CloudVision^® Pathfinder Service to simplify and improve customer wide area networks.

Based on Arista’s EOS^® routing capabilities, and CloudVision management, the Arista WAN Routing System delivers the architecture, features, and platforms to modernize federated and software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs.  The WAN Routing introduction is significant because it is Arista’s first official routing platform.

The introduction of the WAN Routing System enables Arista’s customers to deploy a consistent networking architecture across all enterprise network domains from the client to campus to the data center to multi-cloud with a single instance of EOS, a consistent management platform, and a modern operating model.

Brad Casemore, IDC’s research vice president, with its Datacenter and Multicloud Networks group said:

“In the past, their L2/3 data-center switches were capable of and deployed for routing use cases, but they were principally data-center switches. Now Arista is expressly targeting an expansive range of routing use cases with an unambiguous routing platform.”  By addressing SD-WAN use cases, WAN Routing puts Arista into competition in the SD-WAN space, Casemore noted.

“Arista positions the platform’s features and functionalities beyond the parameters of SD-WAN and coverage of traditional enterprise routing use cases, but it does SD-WAN, too, and many customers will be inclined to use it for that purpose. SD-WAN functionality was a gap in the Arista portfolio, and they address it with the release of this platform.”

Doug Gourlay, vice president and general manager of Arista’s Cloud Networking Software group wrote in a blog about the new package:

“Routed WAN networks, based on traditional federated routing protocols and usually manually configured via the CLI, are still the most predominant type of system in enterprise and carrier wide-area networks.”

“Traditional WAN and SD-WAN architectures are often monolithic solutions that do not extend visibility or operational consistency into the campus, data-center, and cloud environment,” Gourlay stated. “Many SD-WAN vendors developed highly proprietary technologies that locked clients into their systems and made troubleshooting difficult.”

“We took this feedback and client need to heart and developed an IP-based path-computation capability into CloudVision Pathfinder that enables automated provisioning, self-healing, dynamic pathing, and traffic engineering not only for critical sites back to aggregation systems but also between the core, aggregation, cloud, and transit hub environments.”

Modern WAN Management, Provisioning, and Optimization:

A new Arista WAN Routing System component is the CloudVision Pathfinder Service, which modernizes WAN management and provisioning, aligning the operating model with visualization and orchestration across all network transport domains. This enables a profound shift from legacy CLI configuration to a model where configuration and traffic engineering are automatically generated, tested, and deployed, resulting in a self-healing network. Arista customers can therefore visualize the entire network, from the client to the campus, the cloud, and the data center.

“As an Elite Partner and Arista Certified Services Provider (ACSP), we have been using Arista EOS and CloudVision for years and testing the Arista WAN Routing System in production environments for several quarters. The software quality and features within the system are ideal for enterprise network architectures embracing modern distributed application architectures across a blend of edge, campus, data center, cloud and SaaS environments,” stated Jason Gintert, chief technology officer at WAN Dynamics.

Arista WAN Platform Portfolio:

An enterprise WAN also requires modern platforms to interconnect campus, data center, and edge networks, as well as a variety of upstream carriers and Internet-based services. In addition to CloudEOS for cloud connectivity, the new Arista 5000 Series of WAN Platforms, powered by Arista EOS, offer high-performance control and data-plane scaling fit-to-purpose for enterprise-class WAN edge and aggregation requirements. Supporting 1/10/100GbE interfaces and flexible network modules while delivering from 5Gb to over 50Gbps of bidirectional AES256 encrypted traffic with high VRF and tunnel scale, the Arista 5000 Series sets the standard for aggregation and critical site interconnect with multiple use cases such as:

• Aggregation and High-Performance Edge Routing – The Arista 5500 WAN System, supporting up to 50Gbps of encrypted traffic, is ideal for data center, campus, high-performance edge, and physical transit hub architectures.
• Flexible Edge Routing – The Arista 5300 WAN System is suited for high-volume edge connectivity and transitioning WAN locations to multi-carrier, 5G, and high-speed Internet connectivity with performance rates of up to 5Gbps of encrypted traffic.
• Scalable Virtual Routing – Arista CloudEOS is a binary-consistent virtual machine implementing identical features and capabilities of the other Arista WAN systems. It is often deployed in carrier-neutral transit hub facilities or to provide scale-out encryption termination capabilities.
• Public Cloud Edge Routing – Arista CloudEOS is also deployable through public cloud marketplaces and enables Cloud Transit routing and Cloud Edge routing capabilities as part of the end-to-end WAN Routing System. CloudEOS is available on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and through Platform Equinix.
• CPE Micro Edge – In addition to the fully integrated, dynamically configured, and adaptive Arista WAN Routing System platforms, the Arista Micro Edge is capable of small-site interoperability with the WAN Routing System to provide simple downstream connectivity options.

Cloud and Carrier Neutral Transit Hubs:

The Arista WAN Routing System also embraces a new implementation of the traditional WAN core – the Transit Hub. These are physical or virtual routed WAN systems deployed in carrier-neutral and cloud-neutral facilities with dense telecommunications interconnections.

Artista has partnered with Equinix so Transit Hubs can be deployed on Equinix Network Edge and Bare Metal Cloud platforms via Arista CloudEOS software. CloudEOS is available on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Equinix.  As a result, Arista’s WAN Routing System will be globally deployable in Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) data centers. This enables customers to access a distributed WAN core leveraging multi-carrier and multi-cloud transit options – all provisioned through the CloudVision Pathfinder Service.

“Arista Pathfinder leverages Equinix’s Network Edge, Equinix Metal, and Equinix Fabric services to deliver scalable routing architectures that accelerate customers with cloud and carrier-neutral networking,” stated Zachary Smith, Global Head of Edge Infrastructure Services at Equinix. “Pathfinder’s ability to scale, in software, from a single virtual deployment to a multi-terabit globally distributed core that reallocates paths as network conditions change is a radical evolution in network capability and self-repair.”

“The Arista Transit Hub Architecture and the partnership with Equinix positions Arista for growth in hybrid and multicloud routing,” Casemore added.

Pricing and Availability:

The Arista WAN Routing system is in active customer trials and deployments with general availability in the summer of 2023. The following components are part of the Arista WAN Routing System:

• The Arista 5510 WAN Routing System for high-performance aggregation, transit hub deployment, and critical site routing which starts at $77,495.
• The Arista 5310 WAN Routing System for high-performance edge routing which starts at $21,495.
• Arista CloudEOS software for transit hub and scale-out routing in a virtual machine form factor.
• Arista CloudEOS, delivered through the public cloud for Cloud Edge and Cloud Transit routing, is available on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Platform Equinix.
• The CloudVision Pathfinder Service and CloudVision support for the Arista WAN Routing System is in field trials now and will generally be available in the second half of 2023.

About Arista Networks:

Arista Networks is an industry leader in data-driven client to cloud networking for large data center, campus, and routing environments. Arista’s award-winning platforms deliver availability, agility, automation, analytics, and security through an advanced network operating stack. For more information, visit www.arista.com.

ARISTA, EOS, CloudVision, NetDL and AVA are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of Arista Networks, Inc. in jurisdictions worldwide. Other company names or product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Additional information and resources can be found at www.arista.com.

References:

https://www.arista.com/en/solutions/enterprise-wan

https://blogs.arista.com/blog/modernizing-the-wan-from-client-to-cloud

https://www.networkworld.com/article/3691113/arista-embraces-routing.html