Aviz Networks hosts SONiC PlugFest, confirming enterprise readiness and cost advantages

Aviz Networks, Keysight Technologies, and World Wide Technology (WWT) hosted the 2025 SONiC PlugFest, showcasing the enterprise readiness of the Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC). The event featured 48 participating companies, including prominent vendors such as Cisco, Celestica, Edgecore, and Wistron, uniting them to validate SONiC’s real-world deployment capabilities.

The PlugFest provided a vendor-neutral environment for participants to assess SONiC’s scalability and interoperability across diverse use cases. The collaborative effort included input from industries such as retail, e-commerce, healthcare, telecommunications, cloud service providers, and financial services, confirming SONiC’s ability to function effectively in modern data center.

Five key deployment use cases were validated, demonstrating SONiC’s readiness for AI-driven networking environments. These include advanced virtualized networking via VxLAN/EVPN, a RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Fabric for high-performance workloads, scalable L3 Clos architectures, Layer 2 Leaf-Spine core topologies, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support.

The results of a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis indicated that enterprises implementing SONiC-based open networking could achieve up to 40% lower costs compared to proprietary systems. The analysis also highlighted savings from the elimination of vendor lock-in and licensing fees, offering a cost-effective solution for organizations.

Key stakeholders noted that the event highlighted SONiC’s maturity as a production-ready network Operating System (OS). With automated traffic generation provided by Keysight and practical implementation insights from WWT, the PlugFest demonstrated the operational viability of SONiC for enterprises. Future collaboration among the participating organizations aims to enhance SONiC’s implementation in various network environments.

The findings from the PlugFest, along with insights shared in a webinar featuring industry analysts, strengthen SONiC's position as a viable open-source alternative to traditional networking solutions, especially as demand for AI-driven infrastructures continues to grow.