List of the Top 8 Software-Defined Networking Solutions for Linux in 2025

CruzOC serves as a versatile network management and IT operations platform that accommodates multiple vendors while being scalable for diverse needs. This user-friendly tool offers powerful features for netops, including automated management capabilities that encompass performance and configuration management, as well as lifecycle management for thousands of vendors. With CruzOC, administrators can streamline data center operations and manage critical resources more effectively. The platform enhances the quality of both network and services, accelerates deployment processes, and reduces operational costs. Ultimately, it delivers a centralized solution for comprehensive and automated problem resolution through a single interface. Additionally, CruzOC includes monitoring and analytics for network health, traffic, logs, and changes, along with automation for compliance and security measures, orchestration, and provisioning tasks. Its automated deployment features, such as auto-deploy, zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), and remote deployment, ensure that installations are seamless. The solution is flexible, offering deployment options both on-premises and in the cloud, catering to various organizational preferences and requirements.

Cruz Fabric Controller offers genuine software-defined networking capabilities that facilitate the management of fabrics across remote data centers, edge locations, and various remote sites. Utilizing a unified interface, users can efficiently deploy and update fabrics while also overseeing their management, monitoring, maintenance, and automation of operations, ensuring streamlined processes throughout the network. This comprehensive approach significantly enhances operational efficiency and reduces the complexity involved in managing diverse network environments.

Trustgrid serves as the SD-WAN solution tailored specifically for software providers. The Trustgrid platform effectively meets the unique demands of SaaS application providers that operate in environments controlled by customers or partners. By integrating SD-WAN 2.0, edge computing, and zero trust remote access into one cohesive platform, we empower software providers to oversee and support distributed application environments from the cloud to the edge. With Trustgrid, you can streamline connectivity, bolster security measures, and ensure consistent network availability, all while enhancing the overall performance of your applications. This innovative approach not only simplifies management but also fosters a more resilient infrastructure for software providers.

DxOdyssey represents a cutting-edge software solution that leverages patented technology to create highly available application-level micro-tunnels across a multitude of locations and platforms. This software stands out by offering unparalleled ease, security, and confidentiality compared to other available alternatives. By integrating DxOdyssey, organizations can initiate a transition towards a zero trust security framework, which proves invaluable for networking and security administrators overseeing multi-site and multi-cloud environments. In light of the evolving nature of the traditional network perimeter, DxOdyssey’s unVPN technology has been crafted to seamlessly adjust to this new reality. Unlike conventional VPNs and direct link strategies that necessitate significant upkeep and pose risks of lateral network movements, DxOdyssey employs a more robust approach by providing application-level access rather than network-level access, which significantly reduces the attack surface. Moreover, it accomplishes this while delivering the most secure and efficient Software Defined Perimeter (SDP), thus enabling connectivity for distributed applications and clients across various locations, clouds, and domains. As a result, organizations can bolster their overall security posture while streamlining their network management processes, leading to greater operational efficiency and effectiveness. This innovative approach ensures that security measures can keep pace with the demands of modern digital landscapes.

ONAP functions as a comprehensive framework that orchestrates, manages, and automates services linked to networks and edge computing, catering to a diverse array of stakeholders such as network operators, cloud service providers, and enterprises. Its capabilities for real-time, policy-driven orchestration and automation of both physical and virtual network functions enable rapid service deployment while ensuring thorough lifecycle management, which is vital for the evolution of 5G and next-generation network technologies. The Open Network Automation Platform initiative unites prominent global carriers and technology firms with the goal of enabling end users to efficiently automate, design, orchestrate, and oversee services and virtual functions. By integrating two major open networking and orchestration initiatives—open-source ECOMP and the Open Orchestrator Project (OPEN-O)—ONAP seeks to create a unified architecture and implementation that promotes collaboration in the open-source community. Under the auspices of the Linux Foundation, ONAP is dedicated to fostering innovation and establishing standards in network automation. In addition to simplifying operations, ONAP significantly boosts the scalability and adaptability required for contemporary digital infrastructures, ultimately paving the way for more resilient and efficient network management solutions. This ongoing commitment to innovation ensures that ONAP remains at the forefront of technological advancements in the networking domain.

Unlock the potential of your network with Lumen SD-WAN Solutions, which seamlessly combine automated security, improved performance, and smart scalability to drive digital transformation forward. By alleviating the intricacies and reducing the threats tied to network evolution, Lumen's SD-WAN offerings adeptly protect and oversee workloads over a variety of connection types, all within a unified, automated framework that provides centralized oversight and management. Explore the ways to enhance your network functions utilizing SD-WAN technology. With its state-of-the-art cloud gateway design and groundbreaking Dynamic Multipath Optimization™ (DMPO) features, Lumen SD-WAN, in partnership with VMware, guarantees reliable and secure high-performance access to essential applications, including voice and video, across various locations such as branch offices, data centers, and expansive cloud infrastructures. Organizations can swiftly establish branch connectivity in a matter of minutes, with scalable management solutions specifically designed for mid-sized to large businesses, thereby significantly boosting operational efficiency and responsiveness. Furthermore, this agility allows companies to better adapt to changing market demands and enhances their overall competitive edge.

Verge-OS emerges as a groundbreaking operating system that distinctively decouples networking, computing through its hypervisor, and storage from conventional bare metal hardware, facilitating the creation of virtual data centers. In contrast to competitors who merely aim to virtualize single machines, we elevate the concept by virtualizing entire data centers within a unified solution. This all-encompassing offering is packaged under a single license and boasts an easy-to-use interface for effortless management. As a powerful Software Defined Networking platform, Verge-OS integrates an operational firewall to bolster security measures. By abstracting the data center from its hardware roots, Verge-OS adeptly combines all essential resources within the hypervisor framework. It also implements RAIN architecture in its vSAN, which enhances the distribution, sharing, and scalability of storage solutions. Moreover, Verge-OS effectively consolidates and replaces multiple software and licensing expenses associated with hypervisors, SAN, NAS, firewalls, disaster recovery, backup systems, orchestration, system management, and logging tools, while eliminating the necessity for proprietary hardware maintenance agreements. This comprehensive strategy not only streamlines organizational processes but also leads to significant cost savings for companies striving to enhance their IT infrastructure. Ultimately, Verge-OS provides a transformative approach to data center management that prioritizes efficiency and adaptability.

The distinctive PICOS open NOS, designed with tightly integrated control planes, offers network operators accurate and non-intrusive visibility into their enterprise applications, facilitating comprehensive and flexible traffic analysis as well as timely attack prevention. When it comes to implementing zero-trust networking and creating software-defined perimeters, PICOS is recognized as the leading solution. Our cutting-edge open network operating system seamlessly works with open switches that feature interfaces between 1G and 100G, sourced from a wide array of Tier 1 manufacturers. This extensive licensing package provides unmatched support for enterprise capabilities found in today's market. It also includes the Debian Linux distribution, maintaining an unaltered kernel to maximize DevOps programmability. In addition, the Enterprise Edition is further enhanced with AmpCon, an automation framework leveraging Ansible, which combines Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) with the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE), thereby simplifying the deployment and management of open network switches across the enterprise. Such sophisticated functionalities empower organizations to maintain not only operationally efficient networks but also robust defenses against continuously emerging threats. As a result, businesses can confidently navigate the complexities of modern networking while ensuring their infrastructure remains fortified.