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Cumulus Releases GNU/Linux For Datacenter Routers
alphadogg writes "Start-up Cumulus Networks this week has emerged with a Linux network operating system designed for programmable data centers like the ones Google and Facebook are building. The company's Cumulus Linux OS operating system includes IPv4 and IPv6 routing, plus data center and network orchestration hooks. Much like OpenFlow for independent, software-defined control of network forwarding, Cumulus Linux is intended to run on commodity network hardware and bring Open Source extensibility to high capacity data centers. The head of the company used to work for Cisco and Google."
The distribution is based on Debian and ported to several router platforms. They claim to release most of their code Open Source, but there are at least a few proprietary bits for interfacing to the routing hardware itself.
If you don't want to use Linux in your datacenter setup (and not many of us do), it's better to get a Microsoft router. This is the same technology they use in newest airplanes and space shuttles - ie., top notch tech.
If you don't care about running a datacenter, there is also Windows Azure cloud hosting platform. It directly integrates with your existing MS stack (Visual Studio, IIS server software) and is beauty to work with. I can only recommended Azure so much, but trust me, it's your dreams come true.
- Mark Johnsson