Questions and answers – our FAQs

One day, two engineers from Juniper Networks were asked a question by one of the world's largest 'cloud-native' web services companies. 'Why can’t you develop a new networking feature that is critical to us opening more data centres in less than 12-18 months?' they asked.

Their own approach to IT allowed them to solve their side of the problem in a few weeks, not months or years – and they didn’t understand why the networking industry couldn’t do the same.

As they left the meeting, the two engineers asked themselves the same question – and realised that if they had a clean sheet of paper and applied the same ‘internet-native’ philosophy to networking, then they could get a different answer. The two engineers were Pravin Bhandarkar and Hannes Gredler. 
The answer to the question was RtBrick!

RtBrick FullStack will create a software defined network, but it is fully distributed to help de-risk the scaling limitations of using a centralised SDN controller in a large telco network. Like all SDN networks, an RtBrick network uses independent software to control third-party hardware, with open APIs. However, unlike other SDN architectures, RtBrick distributes the software control layer, rather than centralising it, allowing it to build huge ‘web-scale’ resilient networks for telecoms operators.

RtBrick’s approach to building networks has a lot in common with NFV. Both use software running on standard third-party hardware. However, because RtBrick is building the underlying network, rather than a higher layer function such as a gateway or firewall, the hardware is usually distributed bare-metal switches rather than centralised standard computing platforms. Bare metal switches are optimised for high port density and throughput rather than just processing power. Another way to think about it is that RtBrick provides the ‘N’ in NFV, rather than the ‘F’.

RtBrick FullStack will create a software defined network, but it is fully distributed to help de-risk the scaling limitations of using a centralised SDN controller in a large telco network. Like all SDN networks, an RtBrick network uses independent software to control third-party hardware, with open APIs. However, unlike other SDN architectures, RtBrick distributes the software control layer, rather than centralising it, allowing it to build huge ‘web-scale’ resilient networks for telecoms operators.

You will need to buy licenses to run our RtBrick Full Stack routing software, and run the software on off-the-shelf hardware such as a bare metal switch. Bare metal switches are available from several vendors and are typically much lower price per port than traditional switches and routers. 

Our software pricing varies on scenario and volumes, but for a large network we expect both the capital and operational costs to be significantly lower than a traditional network. We offer several different pricing options, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs:

Perpetual software license - a one-off purchase with one license purchased either for each piece of hardware. If you want to run a BNG and/or CGNAT you must also purchase a pool of subscriber licenses.

You also need to purchase additional support contracts to give you access to our support teams, new features and software bug fixes.

You can see our pricing in our pricing calculator tool.

RtBrick is incorporated in the USA, has R&D operations in India and customer support and development staff in Austria, Belgium, India, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, UK and the USA

If you’d like to become an integration partner, then please get in touch. We are looking for partners who have an established presence in their local markets, can support both hardware and software, and have skills in designing and supporting networks for carriers and other segments.

We are running tests and trials with several major carriers and would like to hear about your requirements, please get in touch.

You can use the Try Our Software button at the top of the page.