Aviz Networks

Ep 14: Why SONiC PlugFest Beats Traditional POCs for Network Evaluation

Transcript

[00:00:08] Hello everyone and welcome back to Aviz Networks podcast series. I'm your host [00:00:10] Shruti Jha, digital marketing manager at [00:00:13] Aviz Networks. Today we are diving into [00:00:17] an exciting and much anticipated event [00:00:20] in the open networking community, the [00:00:23] Sonic Plugfest.

[00:00:24] Joining me is Cody McCain, director of [00:00:27] product management at Aviz Networks.

[00:00:29] Cody's background is truly unique. A [00:00:31] physicist turned networking and cyber [00:00:34] security expert. Over the past 20 years, [00:00:36] he's worked at JP Morgan, Chase, Intel, [00:00:39] Cisco, and much more. His contributions [00:00:42] include securing 11 trillion dollars in [00:00:45] daily transactions, transiting the [00:00:47] network, building mission critical CNI [00:00:49] technologies for enterprise and telco, [00:00:52] and optimizing Kubernetes and container [00:00:54] security at massive scale. Corey, we are [00:00:57] thrilled to have you. Welcome to the [00:00:58] show.

[00:01:00] Thanks Shudy, glad to be here.

[00:01:02] Corey, let's start with the big picture. [00:01:04] What is the main objective of Plugfest [00:01:06] and what do you hope participants walk [00:01:08] away with after attending this event?

[00:01:12] Shy, that's a great question. The main [00:01:15] objective of Plugfest is really to short [00:01:17] circuit the burdensome PC process that [00:01:19] we've all experienced.

[00:01:21] What we can accomplish in a few short [00:01:23] days together far exceeds, you know, [00:01:25] one-off testing with each partner and [00:01:27] customer, especially in this ever [00:01:29] growing Sonic ecosystem.

[00:01:32] Plugfest brings together both customers [00:01:34] and vendors in one place and it allows [00:01:37] our experienced team to work hand-in-hand [00:01:40] with the other participants to test [00:01:43] you know all the most relevant use cases [00:01:44] across really a heterogeneous hardware [00:01:46] landscape and I don't think really [00:01:49] there's any other place that we can have [00:01:51] you know an event providing such deep [00:01:54] insight into the art of the possible [00:01:57] with sonic and open networking.

[00:02:01] So many organizations they run their own [00:02:03] individual POCs or lab trials when [00:02:06] evaluating network operating systems. [00:02:08] Why is Plugfest a more effective [00:02:10] alternative especially for teams that [00:02:13] are comparing NOS options or exploring [00:02:15] Sonic for the first time?

[00:02:18] Yeah. So, you know, if you're an [00:02:19] organization that's exploring Sonic for [00:02:21] the first time or, you know, you're [00:02:23] hoping to expand, you know, your use [00:02:25] cases with it, you know, jumping into a [00:02:27] forum of a huge, you know, number of [00:02:30] experienced Sonic users and vendors, it [00:02:32] really enables you to rapidly expand [00:02:34] your own understanding and learn how [00:02:36] other organizations have successfully [00:02:38] deployed Sonic. You know, our testing [00:02:40] environment, you know, I think it has [00:02:42] something for everyone. you know, if [00:02:44] you're just looking to kick the tires [00:02:45] for the first time or if you're really [00:02:47] wanting to, you know, get the experts [00:02:50] beyond the hardware and software to help [00:02:52] you put your specific use case to the [00:02:54] test, Plugfest is the place to do it.

[00:02:56] This is a place where you can really [00:02:58] surround yourself with a depth of [00:02:59] experience and really help to eliminate [00:03:02] all of your unknown unknowns.

[00:03:05] So, our listeners, they often ask [00:03:07] whether Plugfest evaluates real world [00:03:09] scenarios or just lab only [00:03:11] configurations.

[00:03:12] What kind of real world network use [00:03:15] cases will Plugfest focus on and why are [00:03:19] these specific scenarios so critical for [00:03:21] modern data centers and AI-driven [00:03:23] infrastructures?

[00:03:24] Yeah, we bring together real world [00:03:27] test cases and ensure the protocols and [00:03:30] hardware that you have will actually [00:03:33] deploy. You know, our tests focus on [00:03:35] three critical areas. You know, we want [00:03:38] to look at the feature and [00:03:39] functionality. [00:03:40] We want to look at scalability and we [00:03:42] want to look at real world operational [00:03:44] use cases and typically this testing [00:03:47] includes for example the scalability and [00:03:49] resiliency of IPC class networks. Uh we [00:03:52] want to look at how ECMP failover and [00:03:54] convergence works in the real world. [00:03:57] You know this is a real world [00:03:59] environment. So we want to look at [00:04:00] things like reboot and change management [00:04:03] scenarios. And additionally, we can [00:04:05] explore design and planning tools for AI [00:04:08] scale out, scale across scenarios and [00:04:11] how to increase operational efficiency [00:04:13] with AI assistant tooling such as our [00:04:15] network co-pilot.

[00:04:16] Organizations, they always want [00:04:18] assurance that the results are objective [00:04:20] and credible. How does Plugfest ensure [00:04:23] that the outcomes are meaningful, [00:04:25] unbiased, and reflective of real [00:04:27] production environments? What does the [00:04:29] validation and reporting process [00:04:31] actually look like?

[00:04:33] No, that that's extremely important. You [00:04:35] know, if we were to break down our [00:04:37] standard operating procedure for this [00:04:39] event, you know, there’s really two [00:04:41] important key characteristics that we [00:04:44] include. Uh neutrality and transparency. [00:04:47] You know, every test that we execute [00:04:49] during Plugfest is designed based on [00:04:50] input from our customer advisory board. [00:04:53] And that board spans everybody from [00:04:55] cloud service providers, financial [00:04:57] institutions, enterprises, social [00:04:59] platforms to name a few. We also want to [00:05:02] ensure that each test can be executed by [00:05:05] neutral engineers in an automated and [00:05:07] repeatable way. It doesn’t do us any [00:05:10] good if the test that we’re doing can’t [00:05:12] be executed by you in your own lab. And [00:05:15] the focus is not typically on [00:05:17] competitive analysis across vendors, but [00:05:20] rather Sonic NS and Sonic ecosystem [00:05:22] readiness. You know after all this [00:05:25] testing has been completed uh we'll [00:05:27] produce a comprehensive report that [00:05:29] provides you know number one a high-level [00:05:32] summary of the feature and the scaling [00:05:34] and the operational support across each [00:05:35] vendor

[00:05:36] and then we like to dive into uh you [00:05:39] know a very detailed component level [00:05:40] summary. you know we want to focus on [00:05:42] platform readiness management [00:05:43] capabilities you know layer 2 function [00:05:46] um and scaling layer three function and [00:05:48] scaling and you know most importantly [00:05:50] day2 operations and then you know [00:05:53] finally uh we tried to go in and provide [00:05:56] a very detailed analysis you know even [00:05:58] down to the protocol layer in each of [00:06:00] those same areas

[00:06:02] enterprises still running proprietary [00:06:04] solutions they often have hesitations [00:06:06] about switching what's the biggest [00:06:08] misconceptions you hear about moving to [00:06:10] Sonic [00:06:11]

And how does Plugfest help [00:06:12] organizations overcome or validate those [00:06:15] concerns?

[00:06:17] Oh, that's a great question. You know, [00:06:19] as human, I think our our strongest [00:06:21] emotion is probably fear and that's [00:06:24] often manifested as fear of the unknown. [00:06:26] You know, there's a lot of fear, [00:06:27] uncertainty, and doubt when you're [00:06:29] considering moving away from an [00:06:30] established vendor ecosystem. You know, [00:06:32] will they have all the features I need? [00:06:34] Uh will it support my use case? You [00:06:36] know, how easy is it to operate, to [00:06:38] automate? And you know the list of [00:06:40] questions goes on and on. And you know I [00:06:42] think the truth is existing vendors you [00:06:44] know beyond the traditional open and [00:06:47] white box vendors are all getting behind [00:06:49] Sonic.

[00:06:50] It's no longer a very niche field but a [00:06:53] field that's being adopted widely across [00:06:55] our entire industry. And you know if if [00:06:59] we want to draw an analogy I I I think [00:07:01] it's it's very similar to the [00:07:02] overwhelming adoption of open source [00:07:05] over the last decade by well established [00:07:07] you know proprietary software vendors.

[00:07:09] And you know much like Linux you know [00:07:11] Sonic adoption is is not a matter of if [00:07:14] but when. And I think Plugfest is an [00:07:16] opportunity for customers to shine a [00:07:18] light on what's unknown to them and put [00:07:21] it to the test you know all of their [00:07:23] requirements in a very neutral and [00:07:24] rigorous test environment.

[00:07:27] So Cody uh that was question that I had. [00:07:31] Thank you for sharing such valuable [00:07:32] insights. Plugfest is clearly becoming [00:07:34] one of the most important touch points [00:07:36] for organizations who want to evaluate [00:07:38] Sonic and your perspective really brings [00:07:41] that to life. To our listeners, if [00:07:43] you're considering open networking or [00:07:45] want to validate Sonic for your [00:07:47] infrastructure, this is the perfect time [00:07:48] to get involved. Plugfest testing it [00:07:51] begins in January 5th and we will be [00:07:54] sharing the full result during the [00:07:55] Plugfest readout webinar on January [00:07:58] 15th. Register now, secure a spot and be [00:08:01] part of this industrywide evaluation. We [00:08:04] cannot wait to see you there.

[00:08:06] Thanks Trudy. I really hope that you [00:08:07] will take the opportunity to come join [00:08:09] us at Plugfest. I think it'll be a great [00:08:12] place for you to explore, learn, put [00:08:15] your use cases to the test, and get to [00:08:17] sit with the experts all the way across [00:08:20] the Sonic community.

[00:08:22] Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you [00:08:24] in the next episode.