Developed by Microsoft and its community partners eight years ago, SONiC claims to be the first open source networking software to run on multiple switches, with participation from several silicon chip vendors and hardware manufacturers. In an exclusive conversation, Ashay Krishna, Director Of Engineering, Microsoft, explains to OSFY’s Yashasvini Razdan why organisations should adopt open source networking solutions, and the role the community plays in their adoption and growth.
Q. What are the industry trends driving demand for open source networking solutions?
A. Several trends are influencing this demand. First, organisations do not want to be locked into a single hardware vendor or silicon manufacturer. Flexibility to explore alternatives is a significant driver.
Second, financial considerations play a crucial role. While hardware can often be relatively inexpensive, the services bundled with it tend to be very costly. Open source networking solutions eliminate service costs, allowing organisations to set up and manage their networks with smaller teams. This can reduce overall costs by 50–60%.
Q. How has the market perception towards SONiC evolved over the years?
A. The market has been great. SONiC began as a research project, with only a small group of individuals experimenting in a closely-knit community. Today, there are over 40 major contributors including some of the largest OEMs and hyperscalers, more than 400 consumers across many industries, and thousands of developers actively involved in SONiC’s growth. The market has been growing steadily, and the solution has been widely adopted.
Q. When speaking to your customers, who is the ideal first point of discussion—the development team, IT infrastructure management, or the purchasing department?
A. Two key stakeholders to engage with are the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or the head of the technical department, and the purchasing team. The former can assess the value SONiC brings and understand the challenges and benefits of transitioning from legacy systems, while the purchasing team significantly reduces overall costs, making the financial perspective critical.
These two roles are essential in ensuring a smooth discussion and decision-making process.
Q. How do open source networking solutions such as SONiC compare with other proprietary software?
A. Traditional networking software from incumbents, large and small, often have drawbacks. Feature updates are slow, contributions are limited to a restricted group, and there is heavy dependence on specific hardware vendors. With open source networking solutions, the entire community can contribute, including developers outside the core group. External contributions accelerate feature releases and reduce vendor lock-in, allowing compatibility with any hardware and chip vendor. SONiC addresses growth, agility, speed, and dependency barriers, enabling a flexible and innovative networking environment.
Q. What challenges do open source networking solutions face in expanding their market share, especially when traditional networking software is still prevalent?
A. The first challenge is building confidence that open source software is reliable and readily available. SONiC, for instance, is proving to be more dependable than traditional solutions. This process is similar to what the Linux operating system went through in the compute space, but because of the Linux experience I believe the SONiC adoption process will be faster. The second challenge lies in transitioning from legacy networks, which involves adopting new hardware and software and retaining personnel.
While this shift presents its own difficulties, confidence is steadily growing due to the successful adoption of SONiC by major players like Microsoft, Dell, and Alibaba. Over time, I believe these challenges will diminish as trust in open source solutions continues to strengthen.
Q. How does this open source software drive innovation?
A. SONiC, as part of the Linux Foundation, is a product of efforts like the Open Compute Project (OCP), which was instrumental in its development. Innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and security is advancing rapidly. This year, significant improvements were made in security and new features were introduced, including support for physical servers and pizza boxes. Previously, SONiC was deployed primarily on T1 and TOR configurations (pizza boxes) connected to physical servers. Now, it is moving towards modular chassis designs. Once this deployment is fully operational, enterprises and data centres, regardless of scale, can implement SONiC with any chip vendor.
Q. How scalable is the solution?
A. SONiC is highly scalable. It is successfully deployed in both enterprise settings and large scale data centres. Two major players with some of the largest networks in the industry, Microsoft and Alibaba, are using SONiC extensively.
For example, Alibaba’s data centres grow very rapidly every month, and SONiC operates flawlessly at that scale. Its hardware-agnostic design ensures compatibility and seamless operation regardless of the underlying hardware.
Q. How does SONiC, as an open source networking solution, ensure security?
A. Security is paramount, especially for open source solutions. Every feature in SONiC is hosted on GitHub, where anyone can access and download it. However, before any code is approved for production, it undergoes a rigorous pull request (PR) review process, ensuring compliance with strict security criteria.
Beyond software security, we have implemented ring-fencing mechanisms with supplementary tools and connections to the chipset’s software panel. Hardware vendors also contribute additional security measures. These dual layers—software and hardware—make SONiC a highly secure open source platform.
Q. How sustainable is an open source model in ensuring continuous development and innovation in networking solutions?
A. Open source solutions benefit organisations across all scales, from small enterprises to large corporations, making it very sustainable.
For instance, companies like Aviz Networks and BE Networks (formerly known as BeyondEdge) provide tools and services to deploy open source networks even on a small scale. For medium-sized setups that aim to avoid high costs but still require reliable, supportable solutions, SONiC offers comprehensive base package features with rapid release cycles to meet those needs.
Q. Could you elaborate on the significance of the community?
A. The community is extremely important. It is the community-driven development model that makes open source solutions like SONiC highly sustainable and reliable. Currently, we have around 16 major companies involved, including Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, Dell, Broadcom and others. NVIDIA is also a part of this network, both as a consumer and a supporter of SONiC.
The community is vital because feature development and new software releases rely on its contributions to meet market expectations. We have thousands of active developers contributing to coding, and feature releases occur frequently—about a hundred every two years. For instance, this year alone, we launched over ten new features. The community’s consistent support and contributions are what enable SONiC to thrive and evolve.
Q. How do you encourage new contributors to join and collaborate on this project?
A. The beauty of open source is its universality. For example, if I develop a specific feature, such as IPv6 support or security-related functionalities, any consumer—irrespective of their hardware—can utilise it without waiting for their hardware vendor to implement the same feature. Feedback is important, whether it is about missing features, potential improvements, or areas where we are lacking. I am part of the SONiC Outreach Community, which serves as a platform for gathering this feedback and encouraging participation of developers from various backgrounds.
From an education perspective, SONiC’s integration with the Linux Foundation has led to the launch of several free and advanced training programmes, including certification courses. These initiatives empower young developers to learn about SONiC and contribute to its community-driven development.
Q. Are there any initiatives you are actively engaged in for community collaboration and growth?
A. SONiC is showcased at various conferences globally. The largest is the Open Compute Conference held in San Jose, USA. Additionally, there are numerous regional events in countries like India, Japan, China, and across Europe.
For example, we have hosted SONiC’s biggest conference at the Microsoft campus for the past two years in India. Both events drew attendees and presenters from all over the world, and were sold out very quickly with growing participation. These events serve as platforms for sharing insights, presenting advancements, and engaging with the community to foster collaboration.
Q. How does SONiC manage compliance and licensing regulations for open source projects?
A. Each hardware vendor maintains their own licensing, while SONiC is governed by the SONiC Outreach Community and SONiC Foundation. The SONiC Governing Board, under the Linux Foundation, oversees feature development, licensing, and software releases.
Releases are carefully managed to avoid overwhelming users with frequent upgrades and balancing a variety of features for different market needs. Each update is signed off by the governing board to ensure quality and compliance.
Q. How do you see the demand for open source networking solutions evolving in this industry?
A. The demand is tremendous and growing rapidly. SONiC has become the de facto open source networking solution and has the most vibrant community with contributions from a wide range of partners, including Microsoft, Google, Alibaba, NVIDIA, Dell, Broadcom, Cisco and many others.
Service providers, telcos and enterprises are increasingly adopting SONiC and offering it as a service in the industry. Over the next two to three years, the demand is expected to rise significantly as more organisations recognise the benefits of open source networking solutions.
