Aviz Networks launches platform for SoNic integration

Aviz Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, launched its multi-platform application for network orchestration, visibility, assurance, with vendor neutral Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) support.

The Aviz Open Networking Enterprise Suite (ONES) is an enterprise network management and support solution for helping enterprises transition to open source SONiC while ensuring interoperability with existing infrastructure running traditional NOS.

Aviz ONES supports Community SONiC and its vendor-specific distributions and providesNetOps capabilities for switches running SONiC. ONES also consumes telemetry from switches running a vendor NOS such as NVIDIA Cumulus Linux, as well as telemetry from Arista EOS or Cisco NX-OS, and if they utilize standard OpenConfig (gNMI) telemetry models. The sum of these capabilities makes ONES the most comprehensive and inclusive solution that can deliver end-to-end visibility for a multi-vendor, multi-NOS network.

“With the rapid adoption of open-source SONiC, network infrastructure teams are looking for solutions that not only provide support capabilities for different flavors of SONiC, but also provide NetOps across existing network infrastructure." said Vishal Shukla, CEO of Aviz Networks. “ONES enables orchestration, deep telemetry and assurance for multi-vendor deployments. The option for 24x7 SRE support enables users to introduce SONiC in their networks with confidence.”

http://www.aviznetworks.com

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Can SONiC become the Linux of Network Operating Systems?

In this video, David Maltz, Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President at Azure Networking, details the features and benefits of SONiC, an open source network operating system based on Linux that runs on switches from multiple vendors and ASICs.

First, what is SONiC and where is it deployed?

What are the use cases for telcos, mobile operators, edge-cloud providers and enterprises?

Can SoNIC benefit from the new generation of DPU-powered SmartNICs?

What's next for SONiC?  Will it become the Linux of Network Operating Systems?

Download the 2022 SmartNICs and Infrastructure Acceleration Report: https://ngi.how/ia-2022

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SONiC moves under the Linux Foundation umbrella

The Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC, an open source networking operating system), is now part of the Linux Foundation. 

Created by Microsoft for its Azure data centers, SONiC is an open source network operating system (NOS) based on Linux that runs on over 100 different switches from multiple vendors and ASICs. It offers a full-suite of network functionality, like BGP and RDMA, that has been production-hardened in the data centers of some of the largest cloud-service providers. It offers teams the flexibility to create the network solutions they need while leveraging the collective strength of a large ecosystem and community.

“We are pleased to welcome SONiC to the Linux Foundation family of open networking projects,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge, and IoT, the Linux Foundation. “SONiC is a leader in open source data center NOS deployments, and we’re looking forward to growing its developer community.”

The Linux Foundation will primarily focus on the software component of SONiC, and continue to partner with Open Compute Platform(OCP) on aligning hardware and specifications like SAI.

“Microsoft founded SONiC to bring high reliability and fast innovation to the routers in Azure cloud data centers. We created it as open source so the entire networking ecosystem would grow stronger. SONiC already runs on millions of ports in the networks of cloud scalers, enterprises, and fintechs. The SONiC project is thrilled to be joining the Linux Foundation to take the community to its next jump in scale, participation, and usage," said Dave Maltz, Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure Networking.

SONiC brings a strong existing ecosystem, with premier members including Alibaba, Broadcom, Dell, Google, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA and 50+ global partners.

“Large hyperscalers agree that merchant silicon, hardware independence, and open source protocol and management stack are essential for running their data center networks. Broadcom has wholeheartedly supported this vision with leading-edge, predictable silicon execution and contributions to the SONiC project. We are excited to see the SONiC initiative join the Linux Foundation and look forward to working with the streamlined ecosystem to drive the data center and hyperscale needs of the future,” said Mohammad Hanif, senior director of engineering, Core Switching Group, Broadcom.

“The Open Compute Project Foundation is pleased to continue its collaboration with SONIC as part of the OCP’s new hardware – software co-design strategy. The open source SONiC Network Operating System is enabling rapid innovation across the network ecosystem, and it began with the definition of the Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) at OCP. Hardware – software co-design focuses on software that requires intimate knowledge of the hardware to drive maximum hardware performance, and speed time-to-market for hardware where system performance and ecological footprint can be highly dependent on software -hardware interactions," said George Tchaparian, CEO, Open Compute Project Foundation.

https://azure.github.io

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Keysight to host virtual SONIC plugfest

Keysight Technologies is hosting a virtual SONiC Open Source Network Operating System Community Plugfest taking place May – June 2021. The goal is to enable members of the Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) community to validate SONiC across multiple vendors.

SONiC is an open-source network operating system based on Linux that runs on switches from multiple vendors and ASICs. 

The Open Community Test Event will include three types of participants:

Customers: Customer Advisory Board (CAB)

Vendors: original design manufacturers (ODMs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and network equipment manufacturers (NEMs)

Test partners: Keysight Technologies and AVIZ Networks

The Plugfest CAB will determine the maturity of SONiC on different hardware platforms from a user perspective. It consists of companies including CTC, LINE, Yahoo! JAPAN, World Wide Technology, Apresia Systems, DMM.com, Zhejiang Lab, Ucloud, Internet Initiative Japan, Macnica, Nissho Electronics, and LinkedIn.

The virtual plugfest will feature three categories of tests to validate each level of system integration: an essential test suite will validate key features listed by the SONiC community; a scale test suite will characterize control and data plane scaling and capacity; and an operation test suite will test performance, failover/failback and deployment in leaf/spine topology. Results of the plugfest will be announced after the conclusion of the event.

“As an early adopter of SONiC, we have been excited to see the community contribute to SONiC’s success,” said Shawn Zandi, Head of Network Engineering at LinkedIn. “This plugfest is an opportunity to validate SONiC readiness and to see how others plan to use SONiC in their environments.”

“The plugfest provides vendors and end users a platform to showcase the maturity of SONiC through a common test framework,” said Dean Lee, senior director, cloud solutions at Keysight Technologies. “While community tests have taken place, this is the first time that each of these groups have the opportunity to understand the maturity of each level of SONiC system integration from an end user’s point of view.”

“The SONiC community welcomes more focus and effort on test,” said Lihua Yuan, Partner Dev Manager Microsoft. “While SONiC has gained wide industry support, this effort offers the end-user community the opportunity to test the key elements of SONiC under diverse conditions including multiple vendors.”

https://www.keysight.com/us/en/solutions/cloud/test-solutions-for-sonic-and-dent-implementations.html

Keysight and Aviz Networks will provide the common test platform used in the plugfest. This platform offers a data center fabric test environment to stress SONiC performance and scale. The test environment can scale in multiple dimensions including the number of hosts/servers, top of rack (TOR) switches, leaf switches and spine switches to simulate a hyperscale data center environment.

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Arista adds support for SONiC on its switching platforms

Arista Networks introduced a Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) option that enables its customers to deploy SONiC software on Arista switching platforms.

Arista switches Powered by SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud) combines the open source software first introduced by Microsoft with Arista's EOS platform.

Arista’s SAI layer allows SONiC to run on Arista switches, leveraging Arista’s advanced hardware design and platform drivers. SONiC is an open source network operating system that runs on multiple hardware platforms and was developed initially by Microsoft for the Azure cloud platform.

Arista says the solution delivers robust software, modern streaming telemetry, verbose troubleshooting tools and diverse platform support. In addition, Arista provides integrated software and hardware support through its engineering and customer support organizations.

“This latest initiative is another proof point of the continued long-term partnership between Arista and Microsoft on our mutual cloud networking journey. This expansion of SONiC support allows customers to take advantage of Arista’s broad platform portfolio, high quality system design, as well as global support allowing for broader adoption of cloud networking,” said Dave Maltz, Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft.

“Arista has a long history of collaboration and support for open networking with major contributions to SONiC. Arista switches Powered by SONiC brings open software choices for on-premise enterprise datacenters. We are helping customers realize their cloud networking transformation around resilience, automation and modern analytics backed by world class engineering and support,” said Anshul Sadana, Chief Operating Officer, Arista Networks.

Key benefits of Arista SAI include:

• Choice of high-performance platforms from Arista’s data center portfolio for leaf and spine networks
• Lower opex by leveraging DevOps tools for consistent automation for compute and networking deployments
• Native streaming of deep platform telemetry with OpenConfig APIs
• High scale and extensive debugging capabilities leveraging from cloud deployment experience
• 24x7 global customer support from Arista services organization for SAI and platform related issues for a positive end-user experience
• Distribution of Arista switches Powered by SONiC will be available as a network operating system in addition to Arista’s standard EOS offering. Customers have the option of choosing between Arista EOS and Arista SAI with SONiC software on these systems, and as an added benefit, Arista platforms running SAI can be easily migrated to EOS, providing a flexible path to the mainstream, feature-rich EOS software for broader network roles.

The open source SONiC operating system is already available and in production on Arista switching platforms for select customers. Arista SAI on a range of Arista 7050X and 7060X switching platforms will be available in the second half of 2020.

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Mellanox adds SONiC to its Spectrum switches

Mellanox Technologies announced ASIC-to-Protocol (A2P) customer support solutions for the SONiC Network Operating System (NOS) on Mellanox Spectrum switches.

SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud) is a fully open-sourced NOS for Ethernet switches, first created by Microsoft to run Microsoft Azure and now a community project under the Open Compute Project (OCP). SONiC is built on the Switch Abstraction Interface API (SAI) and breaks down traditional monolithic switch software into agile, microservices-based containerized components. This model accelerates innovation within the NOS and the data center by breaking vendor lock-in and simplifying switch programmability, allowing network operators to choose the best-of-breed switching platforms. SONiC offers a full suite of network functionality—like BGP, ECMP, VXLAN, IPv6, and RDMA—that has been deployed and production-hardened in some of the largest data centers in the world.

Mellanox has been a major contributor to SONiC. Mellanox is now adding SONiC support for customers running large deployments of the SONiC NOS on Mellanox SN2000 and SN3000 switches.

“SONiC is an amazingly versatile and scalable NOS for the data center, and Open Ethernet is an incredibly powerful concept,” said Amit Katz, Vice President of Ethernet Switches, Mellanox Technologies. “Every week we hear from more customers who want to combine the power of SONiC with the best-in-class switch silicon in Mellanox Spectrum. Our unique support offering and vast SONiC experience make this easy for new and existing SONiC customers.”

Yousef Kahlidi, Corporate Vice President, Azure Networking at Microsoft Corp. said, “SONiC delivers scalable and efficient cloud networking that offers one optimized NOS that runs on a variety of best-of-breed switches. Offering support for SONiC on their switches allows Mellanox to bring the benefits of SONiC to a larger customer segment.”

Michael Kagan, CTO and co-founder of Mellanox Technologies, talks about the next step for SmartNICs and the company's newly released ConnectX-6 Dx product driven by its own silicon.

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