Akanda, the major contributor to OpenStack Astara, today announced its new Mitaka release for open source network orchestration and virtualization at the OpenStack Summit in Austin. The Mitaka release for OpenStack Astara is now available for immediate download.

OpenStack Astara is the industry's leading solution for open source network orchestration and virtualization. A vendor-agnostic network solution, Astara does not require an SDN controller and radically simplifies OpenStack network deployments. Today, Astara supports more than 2,000 customers with thousands of virtual machines (VMs) at DreamHost, a web and cloud hosting provider in Los Angeles. DreamHost helped develop the mother code for Astara and replaced VMware NSX with the Astara open source platform. An official OpenStack project since September 2015, Astara has more than 40 core contributors from the OpenStack community. Astara is also in trials today with some of the world's largest service providers and enterprises.

In Austin, several sessions will review the new OpenStack Astara release. More details about the Astara sessions and its new capabilities are here.

What's new in OpenStack Astara?

• Over-the-Top Network Functions: The new Astara release allows OpenStack operators to cut the cord with over-the-top network functions. For the first time, OpenStack operators can bring their own network function to any Layer 2 network. Simply put, cloud operators can use the network they have and choose the network function they want. No more vendor lock-in. 
  
  
• Advanced Features for High Network Availability: Astara takes network availability to new heights with Active/Active software appliances. These advanced features double network capacity, eliminate idle resources, and introduce higher levels of reliability and scalability for Layer 3 services, such as routing, load-balancing, and application performance management.
  
  
• Lightweight IPV6 VPNaaS: The Mitaka release of Astara makes it easier for customers to secure hybrid cloud and IOT infrastructures with IPV6 virtual private networks (VPNs). For example, Astara can now support up to 16 million IPV6 VPNs over VXLAN. IPV6 VPNs are a lightweight alternative to more expensive MPLS-based VPNs, which can't be decoupled from network hardware without significant vendor support. Many network experts consider IPV6 VPNs to be foundational for hybrid cloud and IOT use cases.

"OpenStack Astara is leading the over-the-top (OTT) revolution in network infrastructure," said Robert Haim, a principal analyst with ACG Research. "In the same way that Netflix decouples video delivery from dedicated broadcast and cable networks, OpenStack Astara abstracts network functions from routers and switches. This is part of a massive substitution movement towards open hardware and open software for cloud operators, introducing new OTT approaches to the $20B+ network hardware market."

"The Mitaka release of OpenStack Astara introduces web-scale to virtualized network services," said Henrik Rosendahl, CEO of Akanda. "It's all about software defined hardware choices; new features that allows cloud operators to scale up and out, and radically simple OpenStack Neutron deployment. We're also excited about new services such as IPV6 VPNs, which are elemental for hybrid cloud and IOT applications."

Many companies and groups contributed to the Mitaka release of OpenStack Astara. They include Arista, Comcast, Cumulus Networks, Dell, DreamHost, EasyStack, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HPE, Intel, the Linux Foundation, Mirantis, the MEF, NEC, NGINX, RackSpace, Red Hat and many others.