Submission + - HP accuses Cisco of diverting data center standard (networkworld.com)
alphadogg writes: Networking rivals HP and Cisco have abandoned their common ground in data center switching, with HP accusing Cisco of diverting an IEEE standard and Cisco insisting that customers drove the change.
At issue are two as-yet unratified standards in the IEEE for data center switching that were being defined in concert but are now diverging. IEEE 802.1Qbg and 802.1Qbh were intended to work closely together to enable physical switches to offload much of the network-intensive processing from virtual switches on blade servers and NICs. A year ago, Cisco and HP were driving the effort in a rare show of unity.
“Cisco decided to change the scope and it broke a lot of the cooperation,” says Paul Congdon, CTO of HP Networking. “Where we might have had a vision, we now really see two (specifications) without commonality, which is really unfortunate.”
Hogwash, says Cisco.
“Cisco did not drive this,” says Joe Pelissier, principal engineer at Cisco. “This additional capability was driven by feedback from the (bh) committee during the normal ballot process. Of course, Cisco enthusiastically supports providing this capability in bh as it greatly enhances the versatility of the technology, extends its longevity, and enhances its usefulness to our customers.”
At issue are two as-yet unratified standards in the IEEE for data center switching that were being defined in concert but are now diverging. IEEE 802.1Qbg and 802.1Qbh were intended to work closely together to enable physical switches to offload much of the network-intensive processing from virtual switches on blade servers and NICs. A year ago, Cisco and HP were driving the effort in a rare show of unity.
“Cisco decided to change the scope and it broke a lot of the cooperation,” says Paul Congdon, CTO of HP Networking. “Where we might have had a vision, we now really see two (specifications) without commonality, which is really unfortunate.”
Hogwash, says Cisco.
“Cisco did not drive this,” says Joe Pelissier, principal engineer at Cisco. “This additional capability was driven by feedback from the (bh) committee during the normal ballot process. Of course, Cisco enthusiastically supports providing this capability in bh as it greatly enhances the versatility of the technology, extends its longevity, and enhances its usefulness to our customers.”
