Mellanox Open Ethernet switch portfolio introduces a variety of Network Operating Systems (NOS) to allow independent best of breed selection of both software and hardware.

Ranging from the homegrown Ethernet Operating System Mellanox Onyx™ through vendor specific and down to native Linux operating systems, this variety provides users with the flexibility to choose the switch software which best suit their needs and preference with the ability to alter their choice without changing the hardware platforms in use.

The availability of Linux kernel driver for Mellanox switch hardware enables users to also natively install and use any standard Linux distribution as the switch operating system and deploy their own or 3rd party Linux networking applications over Mellanox switches.

Switch OEMs, NOS vendors or any other users may also develop their own switch software on top of Mellanox Software Development Kit (SDK) or the standard Switch Abstraction Layer (SAI).