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back to article It's alive! Big Switch stitches together an open-source Network Operating System

Networking software specialist Big Switch has launched a Network Operating System (NOS), cobbled together from freely available open source components. The open source NOS stack includes Open Network Linux (ONL), which Big Switch contributed to Open Compute Project in 2014, and Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC …

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  1. Wellyboot Silver badge
    Meh

    Standards

    Innovation can be great, by all means introduce a white box switch/router but for all that is holy, please start with making sure all the dull old 802 standards are working on the new shiney, that's a lot of detailed testing to do.

    The last thing we need is situation specific network protocols popping up with non standard ways of punting the packets around a LAN, Token ring, DECNET & Appletalk went to the wall for good reasons (Not just because Ethernet was 'cheap and good enough').

    8 0 Reply
  2. alain williams Silver badge

    Will Huawei start shipping boxes with this ?

    It would make it harder for the USA to claim that Huawei networking kit is riddled with Chinese Gov't spyware. Especially if Huawei makes it easy for the local network admin to install his own compiled copy of NOS.

    Granted the claim could be made that the hardware is spooked, but that is harder.

    Next question: will CISCO also support NOS - so we can be free of NSA 'additions' ?

    5 0 Reply
    1. tip pc Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Will Huawei start shipping boxes with this ?

      I’m told by Cisco you can write your own python scripts as plugins for DNA to support any third party kit via their API if Cisco don’t have native built in support. They mention Ansible aboveeo Cisco DNA should integrate with this open source bright box stuff, you’d probably not bother buying expensive Cisco tools to use with your cheap bright box gear though.

      If you need cheap and automation at scale Cisco ACI is likely what you need.

      0 3 Reply
      1. A.P. Veening Silver badge
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        Re: Will Huawei start shipping boxes with this ?

        "If you need cheap and automation at scale Cisco ACI is likely what you need."

        Cisco can sell it cheap because of the NSA subsidies.

        0 2 Reply
        1. EnviableOne
          Reply Icon

          Re: Will Huawei start shipping boxes with this ?

          If cisco is what you need for cheap

          HOw comes my ex force 10s for dell are more capable at a quater the price, and less if you sepify the ON version

          1 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Why would Huawei want that?

      Then they are just shifting low margin hardware, and would be undercut by some other Chinese company willing to accept an even lower margin.

      1 0 Reply
  3. whitepines
    WTF?

    and it was a completely closed system. ... with x86, it opened a whole new set of innovations

    Hahahahaha. x86 is one of the most closed systems available. Come back when you realize having one chip vendor legally owning the entire ISA and prohibiting anyone else from licensing it (AMD is a legacy quirk, a reminder of a smaller gentler Intel that actually lost in court once) is just as bloody closed as the mainframe model was.

    That's how we get the ME, boot guard, and various related problems -- network / lock in effects when combined with Microsoft being dominant for so long.

    7 0 Reply

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