The era of closed platforms in the Ethernet switching industry is over, according to Mellanox Technologies, the Israeli data center Ethernet and InfiniBand networking specialist.

Mellanox has introduced its Open Ethernet initiative, which gives customers the option of running a complete open source networking stack on Ethernet hardware, allowing them to tweak and customize networks to their own specifications, said Gilad Shainer, senior director of market development at Mellanox.

"Vendors create silicon and build boxes and put software ... on top of it that is proprietary. There is no opportunity for you to bring your own value," Shainer said. "Vendors want to keep it like this because once you start buying from them, you're locked in."

By open sourcing its code and enabling greater network programmability, Mellanox could establish a window into large data center accounts, said Brad Casemore, research director at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC.

"I think