Jul/0914
Hello Gorgeous! Best of Networking Industrial Design
This is not networking equipment either...
You could also title this one 'Things I'd like to Change Part 2/N'
I was reading NetworkWorld today, (now please don't ask me why I am sitting in Rio de Janeiro reading NetworkWorld (no offense John Gallant, Jim Duffy, Brad Reese, etc) It is just that most people do not usually associate beaches in Brazil with blogging and reading NetworkWorld, scandalous I know...) and anyhow, I was reading NetworkWorld today and I saw that the top read article was title '15 of the Greatest Tech Designs Ever'. I was intrigued!
So I click through item, by item, by item. I saw Aibo's and headphones, and phones and Blu-Ray players. One question occurred to me - "Where are the NETWORK devices guys?" The closest I saw was a malformed toaster-oven from 3Com named Audrey that suffered a premature demise in the dot com bust. This got me wondering - what are the best designed NETWORK devices? You know, Switches, Routers, Firewalls, Load Balancers, Optical Transport, WiFi Access Points, etc! You know, the good stuff!!!!
Now, I have my own opinions and will kick off the comments with a few items that I like, but I would really like to know what the best designed network products are. One caveat - let's not focus 'under the hood'. I don't care for the purposes of this discussion thread about what chipset it used, whether it actually even came close to the performance numbers the vendors touted, or whether it had AC or DC power supplies. I know this stuff all matters, but I am being exceedingly shallow- I just want to focus on the aesthetics, physical functionality, the design, and how usable the product is. Give some reasons you like it! Also, what are the worst? What lessons can be learned there about how NOT to design a product?
dg
Author: Douglas Gourlay
high-tech executive with interests in networking, virtualization, cloud computing, and IT/Tech government policy. VP of Marketing at Arista Networks - this blog reflects Doug's personal views and opinions and not necessarily those of Arista Networks.
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July 17th, 2009
Okay, as much as my friends and family at Cisco are going to have a go at me on this one my first thought immediately went to F5. I have to give those guys up north some serious props for that glowing red ball.
When I would walk into a data center and see rack upon rack of those red eyes staring at me like a scene out of 2001: A Space Odyssey I was viscerally scared! They looked back, they didn’t blink, the claimed their territory and marked their domain, those things looked positively EVIL!!! I LOVE IT!
What incredible branding- linking actual product development and delivery to corporate brand identity and carrying that through to tradeshows, giveaways (I have a red squishy ball from F5!) That red ball is probably one of the most recognizable symbols in networking and is extremely well integrated throughout the entire marketing mix.
Great job! As much as I used to hate competing against it this is a very good design practice!
dg
July 17th, 2009
not impressed with NWW.com Covers Top Designs- they forgot networks! So seeing what you think best designed is – http://bit.ly/14pNtr
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
July 18th, 2009
I would add a couple. The Cobalt Qube, the Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 and Silicon Graphics O2 workstation, and the Sun Microsystems Enterprise 10000. All of those machines just looked cool.
Also, regarding glowing logos, they work every time they are tried. Apple MacBooks are a good example. Sun has some kind of glowing logo on the big Sun Fire boxes, because McNealy wanted Sun logos to glow in an otherwise lights out data center.
July 19th, 2009
I used to have an SGI O2 on my desk. I liked the OpenGL spinning SGI logo screen-saver and of course I REALLY wanted to get wings I could put on the sides of it and some fake toast coming out the top. (a tribute to AfterDark screen savers…)
But what about switches, routers, wifi boxes, and all those connectivity products – does Industrial Design matter in networking? Is there a dearth of good ID? Or is all the good ID coming from Jonathan Ive and resident on my MacBook Pro?
July 20th, 2009
OK, since no one else if gonna say it, I will throw out the Nexus 7000. Yes, I have a bias, but is a damn fine looking switch. Outside of that I am not sure network gear is all that exciting–next on the list would be my Apple Time Capsule.
Servers and workstations seem much more interesting, such as the Apple Cube G4, Thinking Machines CM-5, and the comfortable-looking Cray XMP.
Omar
July 26th, 2009
I have to agree Omar, a truly beautiful networking box. Am especially a fan of the locking doors and integrated cable management.
July 28th, 2009
Well if we are getting into it, is the Nexus 7010 better looking than the Nexus 7018 – which is the better looking….I have an opinion but would like to hear from the “crowd”.
July 28th, 2009
My take is I like the 7000 10-Slot chassis better. But I am a bit biased on this one as most people well know. The main draw for me is the front-to-back airflow in standard racks as it makes deployment easier and doesn’t require reconfiguring the physical plant layout. Also worth noting – you CANNOT put a side-to-side airflow system into a newer data center with hot-air containment – that would be a non-starter.
July 28th, 2009
You see you have now started to look at the features, and not the aesthetics – how quickly the geek in us emerges.
From my point of view a double opening door is “cool” regardless of the air flow.
The 7010 has been compared to both a “woody” with the double doors, and a large SUV like an Expedition, where the doors open in three parts. For this alone, I prefer the 18, as it is cool like a fridge.
Both have integrated cable management, so that is a tie, the air filter makes the 7010 look nice, but the doors could be improved.
July 22nd, 2009
What’s your favorite network device? http://bit.ly/vTCkp
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
July 28th, 2009
What about Unified Communication systems such as Cisco Telepresence and Cisco IP phones. I am amazed that you can start and stop 3 large screen TV’s, directional microphones, , and view a mirrored environment 3000 miles away without any transmission delays, all with a push of a button on an IP phone. Even the best all in one remote controllers for home entertainment centers have trouble matching this seamless integration. From an industrial design end I think this is a home run; multiple piece parts all linked together with tightly integrated scheduling and connection mgmt software.
August 10th, 2009
How about the Apple AirPort Express 802.11 access point? Not flashy but simple (and unobtrusive).
August 10th, 2009
I have to agree with you, I think the Airport was a wonderful design! I could travel with it very easily, plug it in my hotel room, and also extend the range of my iTunes to another room quite easily. Setup and cnfig were a snap, and it just looked so cute.
I was not a fan of the UFO one, and subsequently replaced that one with an Airport Extreme 11n. I do wish they would have put one more USB port on it and an SPDIF optical audio output. But hey, whose complaining…
dg
July 28th, 2009
Well, industrial design is somewhat different than art in that the item has to be useful as well as artful. Not saying the 18-slot is not useful, but the design challenge on the front-to-back model was much greater. However, that being said, I like the idea of using a single-hinged door structure as opposed to the double-doors – that was something I don’t remember considering when working on the ID of the 7010.