Juniper Networks announced that Youku.com, China’s
Internet television company, has deployed a new Juniper-based Ethernet
switching infrastructure running on the Junos operating system in its data
center and Content Delivery Network caching points across the country.
The Juniper Networks EX Series
Ethernet Switches with Virtual Chassis fabric technology make it possible for
Youku to easily scale its data center and content distribution network to meet
fast-growing demand while simplifying network administration.
Since its creation in 2006, Youku has aimed to be the
primary source of online video content for Chinese Internet users across all
Internet-enabled devices. Youku has adopted a unique hybrid content strategy by
licensing long-form, professionally produced content and fostering user
generated content and original web videos produced under its brand “Youku
Original.”
According to iResearch, Youku had approximately 231
million unique monthly visitors from homes and offices in March 2011 and
approximately 52 million from Internet cafes in February 2011. The rapid growth
of its online audience and content library, combined with the need to deliver a
high-quality streaming service, encouraged Youku to adopt a more scalable,
high-performance network infrastructure.
“Internet video is really taking off in China and we
are determined to remain at the forefront of this market,” said Jian Yao,
chief technology officer of Youku.
“In assessing our options for new switching
infrastructure, the Juniper Networks EX Series switches stood out for
delivering wire-speed performance, tremendous scalability and excellent
stability in a compact footprint. With a single operating system running all
switches and the use of Virtual Chassis fabric technology, we can keep
expanding the data center without having to expand our network management
overhead,” Yao added.
Within Youku’s data center, the EX Series switches
have enabled both internal and external networks to collapse multiple switching
layers to create a simplified two-layer network architecture. The internal
network uses Juniper Networks EX8216 modular switches which, through Virtual
Chassis fabric technology, have been interconnected to create a single, logical
device that forms a large Layer 2 core domain.
This is connected to EX3200 access switches using dual
10GbE uplinks configured into Redundant Trunk Groups. On the external network,
EX4200 switches deployed in a Virtual Chassis configuration form the switching
core, with multiple 10GbE links to service provider routers and redundant
link-aggregated GbE connections to Juniper Networks EX2200 access switches.
At Youku’s remote caching sites, Juniper Networks EX3200
switches have been deployed to support 10GbE uplinks to the service provider
and GbE link aggregation groups connecting to EX2200 access switches.
“Projections are that video will account for 50
percent of all Internet traffic by 2014 so, as a streaming video service
provider addressing the world’s largest Internet-connected population, Youku
needs reliable, highly-scalable network performance,” said Alex Gray,
general manager and senior vice president, campus and branch business unit,
Juniper Networks.
“Our EX Series switches with Virtual Chassis fabric
technology flatten the network to increase performance, reduce latency and make
it possible for Youku to scale IT operations without increasing
complexity,” Gray added.
By TelecomLead.com Team
[email protected]
