Juniper and Apstra Up the SONiC Ante

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Juniper and Apstra Up the SONiC Ante

Sponsored by Juniper

The network operating system (NOS) known as Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) has emerged as part of the digital transformation accelerated by the shift to hybrid cloud networks among enterprises and service providers. By offering a common platform for multivendor switched networks, SONiC can, when properly implemented, add speed, reliability, and cost savings to the distributed data centers and cloud environments that support “work-from-anywhere,” replacing monolithic and centralized IT infrastructure.

Nearly five years of focused improvement and collaborative implementation by the Open Compute Project (OCP) have improved SONiC’s functions and produced products, toolkits, code, open-source software, and several vendor-supported SONiC products. Use of these tools has put SONiC through its paces, and the NOS has been adopted by a range of large enterprises, including Comcast, Criteo, eBay, Target, and T-Mobile, among many others. Support for SONiC as an open-source solution via the OCP can be seen in the snapshot of contributors, as illustrated below:

General Support for SONiC via the OCP

Source: David Maltz, Microsoft, and OCP

Still, true innovation never comes without challenges. This Leadership Brief explores the elements needed to implement SONiC to its full advantage by applying a layer of abstraction above SONiC. This leverages SONiC's capabilities faster and more thoroughly than is possible without extensive expertise in software customization and development.