Dell Adds Midokura Open Network Virtualization Option for OpenStack

Dell Computer is deepening its focus on the open cloud and OpenStack in particular. The company announced an expansion of its Open Networking initiative to include Midokura, a company focused on network virtualization, to complement Dell’s networking and server infrastructure. Their agreement includes a joint go-to-market program, validated reference architecture and global reseller agreement.

Midokura’s Enterprise MidoNet software will reside on Dell infrastructure, delivering a network virtualization overlay for OpenStack. The idea is to help enterprise customers and service providers create agile cloud networking infrastructures based on OpenStack.

Dell’s networking switches and x86 servers already form the foundation of many modern data centers.  Meanwhile, MidoNet is a software-based, distributed network virtualization system that can enable enterprises to build, run and manage virtual networks.

Midokura Enterprise MidoNet is on the Dell Software and Peripherals list and Dell’s Download store, available today. 

“Midokura, like Dell, is committed to expanding the Open Networking initiative to meet the needs of today’s modern enterprises and help deliver an open foundation for compute, storage and networking infrastructure,” said Dan Mihai Dumitriu, CEO and co-founder, Midokura, in a statement. “We’ve already successfully teamed up with Dell to bridge virtual and physical networks and we look forward to deepening our collaboration to create an open, converged infrastructure for enterprises to support clouds that are easy to scale and operate.” 

Dell and Red Hat announced last year that Dell would effectively become an OEM for Red Hat's Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, and has been selling systems running that platform. In recent times, Dell has been trying to shift its business model from low-margin PCs to higher margin service provision and cloud strategies.