Oracle is using its foothold in the software-defined networking (SDN) and Ethernet markets to target data centres and the cloud.
Speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the software vender announced a range of low-costs Ethernet switches and virtual network services for Oracle SDN in a bid to better support software-defined data centres.
David Krozier, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, said: "The transition to software-defined data centres has created new networking requirements where high speed and low latency are must-haves for most applications."
Under the plans Oracle will launch ES2-64 and ES2-72 Ethernet switches, which it claims can lower cost through simplifying management and using fewer cables, by reusing existing network infrastructure.
"Combine these switches with the new virtual network services in Oracle SDN, and unified management across the entire Oracle systems portfolio, and customers now have a compelling new fabric option for building flexible, scalable and agile infrastructure for cloud deployments," Krozier added.
In addition to this the company will also add virtual services to Oracle SDN, apparently allowing end-to-end provisioning of network infrastructure from a single dashboard, the Oracle Fabric Manager.
Raju Penumatcha, SVP of Netra Systems and networking at Oracle, said: "Cloud-enabled data centres are only as fast or as agile as their networking allows, which makes the convergence of software-defined networking and network services a next logical step in the evolution of the software-defined data centre."
