Is Arista making right move with campus switches?

Bloggers discuss Arista's new strategy to market campus switches, examine container security risks and ask the question of whether networking is a commodity. Arista Networks said it's jumping into the campus market with a new line of campus switches and cloud-based analytics software. Greg Ferro at Packet Pushers said he's supportive of the move, but he was also quick to warn, "Don't rush." That said, there are a number of valid reasons Arista decided to expand from its data center roots, not the least of which is the sales opportunity fueled by the aging fleet of Cisco campus gear now in operation. "The average age of Cisco's installed base of Cat 6000 series switches is eight years. 10 (sic) years is a psychological time to force upgrades," he wrote in a blog post. "Arista believes it has a good opportunity to go after that installed base." Arista may find some additional challenges in its campus switches strategy, such as determining whether it's necessary to have a lower-cost alternative to the pricey Broadcom application-specific integrated circuits slated to power Arista's campus switches. But the Arista announcement is worth following, Ferro said.