SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) today strengthened its commitment to open network software with the introduction of Arista switches Powered by SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud). Enabled by a new Arista SAI (Switch Abstraction Interface) offering, customers now have the flexibility to deploy SONiC software on Arista switching platforms, combining the benefits of open source software with Arista EOS® for open, high performance, highly available networks.
“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.
Introducing Arista SAI
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 SAI enables customers standardizing on open-source software platforms to achieve consistency across their estate while taking advantage of Arista’s core platform development differentiation. Arista SAI on Arista hardware platforms delivers robust software, modern streaming telemetry, verbose troubleshooting tools and diverse platform support. In addition, Arista provides integrated software and hardware support through its industry leading engineering and customer support organizations.
Key benefits of Arista SAI include:
- Choice of high performance platforms from Arista’s market leading 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 world-class 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.
Open Network Software Benefits
Customers building large scale deployments are seeking a consistent operating model, open software choice and the flexibility to choose from a broad set of hardware platforms. These attributes empower network operators to customize their operating environments for serviceability, availability and scale, with a uniform workflow for development, testing and deployment of differentiated services. With an open network software model, customers can take advantage of innovations in merchant silicon, enable rapid technology transitions and cater to new use cases in cloud scale deployments.
Availability
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.
Register here to learn more about Arista Open Networking, including Arista switches Powered by SONiC, at our presentation at 2020 Open Compute Virtual Summit (vOCP) on Wednesday, May 13th, at 10am PT. And for a deeper dive on this subject, register here for our additional Arista Open Networking webinar scheduled for May 27th, 2020.
About Arista Networks
Arista Networks pioneered software-driven, cognitive cloud networking for large-scale datacenter and campus environments. Arista’s award-winning platforms redefine and deliver availability, agility, automation, analytics, and security. Arista has shipped more than twenty million cloud networking ports worldwide with CloudVision and EOS, an advanced network operating system. Committed to open standards across private, public and hybrid cloud solutions, Arista products are supported worldwide directly and through partners.
ARISTA and EOS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of Arista Networks, Inc. in jurisdictions around the world. Other company names or product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Additional information and resources can be found at www.arista.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding performance and efficiency. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including: rapidly evolving changes in technology, customer requirements and industry standards; product, support or service quality problems as well as other risks stated in our filings with the SEC available on Arista's website at www.arista.com and the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Arista disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.
