There is a word that Aurora 620 and Aurora 720 supports Ubuntu with integrated OF-DPA 2.0

That means an availability of one more NOS option for Tomahawk HW and fully-features OpenFlow 1.3.4 support.

MPLS in all it's glory and several OpenFlow controllers tested.

Sounds interesting for those who want to play with telecom applications.

Netberg Aurora 620 with 48x 25G SFP28 and 6x 100G QSFP28 ports is available from now on.

You can choose from bare metal and ICOS-fueled options.

Full replacement of 10/40G technology at the same cost to enhance your network!

An alternative to ICOS is ready – OpenSwitch.

OpenSwitch - an open source, Linux-based network operating system (NOS) designed to power enterprise grade switches from multiple hardware vendors that will enable organizations to rapidly build data center networks that are customized for unique business needs.

Now you can grab a bare metal version of Aurora 720 or Aurora 620 and make it ready for use in your network.

More about ICOS here.

DC switch NOS evolution

For many years, switches were black boxes with management through CLI/web or special API from vendors.

Cumulus Linux was the first product that aimed to change the industry and manage a switch like a Linux server with standard Linux management, monitoring, and provisioning tools. However, Cumulus Linux is aimed at the particular market with heavy L3 usage and offers a limited set of network protocols.

What’s going on with traditional CLI-oriented network OS?

They are going to be open too. Let’s take a look at ICOS, a feature-rich package from Broadcom that serves as a foundation for NOS on their ASICs.

Unlike servers, Ethernet switch does not allow simple Linux deployment with an ASIC drivers. Special integration efforts are required for a proper LED indication management, port mapping, power control, etc. Such integration could be implemented in many ways, let’s take a look at them.

It’s a major release with 100G support as well as new 10G Base-T models. At last, Quanta LY9 is not the only one copper platform available.

Two Mellanox models are on the list too, 40 and 100G boxes.

Software and feature enhancements released in Cumulus Linux 3.0 include:

• Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF): Provides customers with multi-tenancy and traffic isolation capabilities for layer 3 Clos topologies.
• Base foundation update: Cumulus Linux 3.0 is rebased on the latest Debian 8 release (Jessie) and an upgraded Linux 4.1 kernel, enabling customers to access all the benefits of upstream updates from the Linux ecosystem.
• Cumulus VX enhancements: Platform emulation, ONIE inclusion and releasing alongside Cumulus Linux make Cumulus VX a true learning and pre-production tool. 
• 2.5 Extended Support Release (ESR): Customers now have the option to choose between Cumulus Linux 2.5 ESR, a mature and stable release, and the new Cumulus Linux 3.0, with the latest features, for their environments. Cumulus Linux 2.5 ESR will be supported and maintained for three years.

Cumulus Linux 3.0 is available on x86 and ARM CPU architectures. Cumulus Linux 2.5 ESR supports x86, ARM and PowerPC architectures. 

For more information, please review the Cumulus Linux release notes to learn about all the improvements and new features in 3.0.

Aurora 220 switch with ICOS NOS is available at 1999 USD!

Thanks to low-cost Helix4 ASIC and embedded CPU, the Aurora 220 offers a unique combination of performance and features along with redundant power and cooling.

The price for Aurora 720 100G bare metal switch was aligned to match 40G counterparts - $7000.

Also, 100G optics from Optech was added to our catalog. Quite expensive so far but it’s not in a real volume production yet.

Cost-effective 10G optics from Optech added - high-quality Taiwan-made product.

called Software for Open Networking in the Cloud or SONiC.

SONiC is a collection of networking software components required to have a fully functional L3 device that can be agnostic of any particular Linux distribution. Today SONiC runs on Debian and available on Github.

No support from Microsoft, they intend to keep SONiC relevant, reliable and stable. The rest depend on a community or your development resources.

A major requirement for the switching silicon - to be SAI-compatible.

A detailed post from Mark Russinovich is here.

ICOS release for the Aurora 720 switch.

The Aurora 720 switch is available with ICOS NOS for the deployment.

Why?

• Align with industry standard – all OS’ sold this way.
• NOS is integral to the switch – customers expect to own it
• Reduce procurement/sales barrier – make things frictionless