AI networking depends on coordination across software, switches, silicon, and high-speed connections. Collaboration among those vendors could give channel partners more options for building AI networks, although compatibility, integration, and support still require evaluation.
The Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) Foundation has announced the addition of Lenovo, NADDOD and Zhanwang (NEXAI) as General members, ahead of the upcoming Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit 2026 that will take place from October 12–15. This new addition brings expertise across enterprise infrastructure, high-speed interconnects, and networking silicon to help improve AI networking.
“AI infrastructure is raising the bar for networking, and the additions of Lenovo, NADDOD and NEXAI bring valuable knowledge from across the networking stack into the SONiC community,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager of networking, edge and IoT at the Linux Foundation.
SONiC Foundation for AI networking
At last year’s OCP Global Summit, the SONiC highlighted AI infrastructure deployments, new case studies, and ecosystem growth. It described SONiC as evolving from a disruptive networking project into a platform used for large-scale infrastructure.
The SONiC Foundation supports the development and adoption of SONiC, an open-source network operating system (NOS). The new members bring expertise from different parts of the AI networking stack.
According to the foundation, Lenovo is developing SONiC-based automation and operations capabilities, NADDOD uses SONiC across its AI data center switch portfolio, and NEXAI is porting SONiC to its networking products. Their planned contributions include platform improvements, interoperability testing, and network observability..
Although SONiC’s expanding vendor ecosystem could give solution providers more flexibility when building AI infrastructure, differences in hardware support, software implementations, and vendor support arrangements mean partners still need to validate compatibility and performance across AI platforms, which could add integration and maintenance costs. Shifting to SONiC may require specialized networking expertise, increasing the burden on IT solution providers and MSPs.
The foundation’s 2026 schedule includes live demonstrations during the summit, a co-located SONiC workshop on Oct. 14, and an offsite workshop hosted by Nokia in Sunnyvale on Oct. 16.
What this means for channel partners
The SONiC Foundation’s latest additions highlight the growing ecosystem around open-source networking for AI infrastructure. For channel partners, broader hardware participation could create more opportunities to design, integrate, and support multi-vendor AI networks as customers make increasingly interconnected AI infrastructure decisions.
A July 2026 architectural guide from the SONiC Scale-Up Working Group outlines efforts to support low-latency, fault-tolerant Ethernet connections between tightly coupled AI accelerators. It describes the project’s technical direction, with further API and software development planned
For solution providers and MSPs, broader vendor participation could expand opportunities to design, integrate, and support AI networks. Before recommending SONiC, partners should validate hardware compatibility, confirm the software features each workload requires, and establish responsibility for updates and troubleshooting.
Read more: AI infrastructure decisions extend beyond networking — explore how DC power architectures are changing data center design and integration opportunities for channel partners.