7150S Competitive Analysis

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Nexus 3500 Initial Competitive Analysis
Comparing Latency, Features, Density, Performance and Tables

•  Cisco moving targets for HFT – 4948 / N5K / N3K – N3500

–  Lack of consistent product architecture, features, designs
•  Questionable performance claims – subject to real testing
-  Full 48 ports, high flow rates, HOLB, behavior during convergence
-  Warp mode – imposes limitations on use of features such as ACL or NAT
•  Key Missing features – IPv6 and vPC (and long roadmap “*”)
•  Arista Advantages in SDN, VXLAN, Mirroring and LANZ+
•  Arista Key Differentiators are:
– Scale of 7150S, feature consistency, EOS extensibility, platform choice

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Nexus 3548 Overview
Specifications:
48 fixed 1/10G SFP+
Line rate Layer 2 and layer 3
1RU form factor
Dual redundant PSU
4 redundant color coded fans
1 PPS timing port (output)

Algo Boost:
Mode Normal Mode Warp Mode
Normal Mode Latency – as low as 250ns
MAC Addresses 64,000 8,000 Warp Mode Latency – 190ns for small deployments
IPv4 unicast routes 16,000 4,000 Warp SPAN – packet copy in 50ns
IPv4 hosts 64,000 8,000 Active Buffer Monitoring
IPv4 multicast routes 8,000 8,000 Network Address Translation*
Number of VLANs 4,096 Advanced Traffic Mirroring with ERSPAN*
ACL entries 4,096 IEEE 1588 PTP*

Arista Confidential - NDA

 First: What is “Warp”…?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/warp
Warp
verb (used with object)
1. to bend or twist out of shape, especially from a straight or flat form, as timbers or
flooring.
2. to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course.
3. to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning, etc.; bias; falsify:
Prejudice warps the mind.
verb (used without object)
7. to become bent or twisted out of shape, especially out of a straight or flat form:
The wood has warped in drying.
8. to be or become biased; hold or change an opinion due to prejudice, external
influence, or the like.

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Second: What are Customers Saying…?
Feedback from a former Cisco customer….

1. Burnt by 3 versions of 3064

2. Burnt by feature lag/death of 3064 vs other nx-os
3. Don't want a 1 trick pony with yet another new NX-OS
4. Love that EOS is constant across products and Arista builds a
variety of devices (all under a common EOS)
5. Don’t want to save 100ns in the edge when they can save 10s of
µs in the distribution and core with a more scalable device
6. Don't want to be a beta test for Cisco

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Nexus 3548 Major Issues (1)

1. Nexus 3548 is not shipping – no release notes

2. Nexus 3548 does not support IPv6 – data sheet
3. Nexus 3548 does not support vPC (roadmap?)
4. Cannot rewrite source address for multicast NAT
5. WARP modes limit both scale and features
6. Active Buffer Management uses unproven polling
7. Many features are on a roadmap (subject to delay)

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Side by Side Product Comparison *
Arista 7150S Cisco Nexus 3548 – Cisco Nexus 3548 –
“WARP” Latency “High” Latency
Port density 24/52/64x10G 48x10G
Latency 350ns 190ns 250ns
MAC Table 64K 8K 64K
IPv4 Hosts 64K 8K Subject to 64K
IPv4 Routes 84K 4K confirmation 16K
IPv4 Multicast Routes 23K 8K 8K
IPv6 Routes Unicast 21K ZERO ZERO
IPv6 Routes Multicast 2K ZERO ZERO
ACLs 20K 4K 4K
MLAG / vPC Yes NO NO
LANZ, LANZ+, Yes, microsecond Polling: 4ms in HW & 1 second granularity in
Streaming granularity SW - Not real LANZ
Software Stack EOS NX-OS – what branch or version?
* Based on Cisco Data Sheets
Arista Confidential - NDA
NX-OS Licensing – Extra $$$
Not  
Supported  

$5,000  

$10,000  +  $5,000  
Even  More  $$$$  

Arista Confidential - NDA

NX-OS – A Common Nexus Weakness

Inconsistent  feature    
opera;on  

Open  Standards?  

Complex  OS  Architecture  

Diagnos;cs  is  not  visibility  

Not  extensible  

No  beHer  than  AAA    

Arista Confidential - NDA
 High Performance Network Design Comparison
How many switches are needed for a simple 64 ports line rate
HPC solution or HFT Trading Application?

7150S

Arista 7150S Cisco Nexus 3548

10G Line Rate Ports 64 64
Devices 1 5
RU 1 5
Port to port Latency 380ns 750ns (250x3)
Power 224W 900W
Cost $30K $315K *
* Plus cost of cables or optics
Another $120K

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Arista 7150 Advantages over Nexus 3548
Arista 7150S SDN Nexus 3548 Arista Value
Switch
Yes – 24, 52 and 64
Density Range + Local Storage No – 48 Only Multiple Options
& SSD
Clock, PTP, NAT and
Advanced Forensics and Services Yes No Monitoring for Accurate
Application Analysis

Standards Based Network Support for Multi-tenant

Yes No cloud computing - VXLAN
Virtualization

Flexible Forwarding Silicon Yes No Innovation Agility

Software Defined Cloud

Programmable OS Yes – Extensible OS No Networking with Open APIs

Yes – Multiple
Versatile Applications No – HFT Only Cloud, HPC, Web2.0, HFT,
Markets

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Arista Next Steps
•  Validate Cisco latency claims under both feature and
verified traffic loads *
•  Continue to identify key feature gaps and inconsistency
in product marketing
•  Demonstrate weakness in Cisco 3548 architecture for
HFT and HPC markets
•  Looking for YOUR feedback on customer testing and
reported issues with Nexus 3548

* Need customers

Arista Confidential - NDA

 Summary
•  Don’t let customers be tricked by Cisco slick “marketing” (yet again)

•  Cisco delivery of “roadmap” features is slow for niche products

•  Arista 7150 + 7124FX provides the fastest trading network

•  Arista 7150 works as advertised, no gimmicky fast path/slow path tricks

•  Arista 7150 shipping now, not just a future with a “roadmap”

•  Arista Key Advantages for LANZ+, AgilePorts, Density, EOS

Let the best product & team win!

Arista Confidential - NDA