U.S. networking firm Aviz Networks joined the open source networking push with a release supporting the Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC).

Aviz Certified Community SONiC supports both Community SONiC and Broadcom Enterprise SONiC, on hardware from vendors including Cisco, Nvidia, Edgecore, and Dell Technologies.

The rollout includes a continuously validated code base, more than 500 automated feature test automation suite (FTAS) evaluations, and operational improvements through the Aviz Open Networking Experience Center.

It also includes internet protocol clos network architecture (IP CLOS), ethernet virtual private network/virtual extensible local area network (EVPN/VXLAN), and multichassis link aggregation (MLAG) across extensively deployed disaggregated switching platforms.

Also touted is certified SONiC image qualified across multiple switch vendors, including Cisco, Nvidia, Accton/ Edgecore, Celestica, and Wistron.

With its Certified Community SONiC, Aviz is touting itself as a "Red Hat for networking," proclaming SONiC and open source networking in general as not merely the domain of hyperscale use, and promising a Cisco/Arista-like experience on the cheap while avoiding vendor lock-in.

"Aviz provides a complete SONiC package that addresses the CIO's top priority: accessing simple, turnkey deployments through software images that are backed by tested designs and support for the network switches and ASICs that they already use," Aviz CEO Vishal Shukla explained. "This is how Aviz Certified Community SONiC changes the game."

"Industry ecosystem and within it, enterprises will benefit when open development communities and commercial validation come together. Certified Community SONiC aligns with OCP's mission to accelerate community-driven collaboration, with openness, efficiency, faster TTM deployment, richer tested quality features, and choices in the data center,” added Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation CEO George Tchaparian.

The Aviz release follows last week’s unveiling by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) of the first commercial deployment of an AMD Helios-based AI rack-scale system using SONiC. HPE also included SONiC compatibility on its QFX5240 and QFX5250 switches, which emerged from its Juniper Networks integration, with Juniper a member of the SONiC Foundation.

Nokia this week signed up for the SONiC Foundation as a "premier" member, joining the likes of Alibaba, Arista Networks, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell Technoligies, Google, Intel, Marvell, Nvidia, and Microsoft, that last of which originally developed the SONiC network operating system for its Azure cloud platform.