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Pica8
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Pica8 Software Inc. is a computer networking company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. Pica8 is a provider of SDN software solutions, delivering advanced software-defined networking (SDN) solutions[buzzword] for datacenter, cloud computing environments and [buzzword] large enterprise customers. The company's products include a Linux-based L2/L3 and OpenFlow-supporting network operating system, PicOS, which is shipped as standalone software that can be loaded onto a range of 1/10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet switches based on commoditized switches purchased from original design manufacturers (ODMs).[1]
 | This article contains promotional content. (July 2025) |
The company's approach is to combine commodity network hardware (from manufacturers like Accton, Foxconn, Quanta[1]) with Debian Linux, L2/L3 protocol stacks, a full enterprise feature set, OpenFlow controller and Open vSwitch (OVS) to create both a more "democratic" SDN solutions[buzzword] with competitive price compared to conventional embedded switches[2][3][4][5][6] as well as more flexible and scalable disaggregated enterprise networking solutions.[buzzword]
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The company was founded in 2009.[4][7] It launched a family of OpenFlow-enabled Ethernet switches in August 2009 and has been selling products ever since.[8]
In October 2012 Pica8 raised $6.6m in Series A funding from VantagePoint Capital Partners to support its sales and product development.[8][9] On 10 December 2012 the company exited stealth mode with the introduction of SDN reference architecture aimed at cloud providers.[5][10]
By 2013, among about 100 Pica8's customers, including large service providers and hosting companies, were such companies as Baidu, Yahoo! Japan[6][8][11] and NTT Communications.[6]
In December 2013, the company launched the Pica8 SDN Starter Kit, an "out-of-the-box" kit that includes an open-source network controller, a programmable network tap, an open-source network intrusion detection system, and other components meant to give customers a complete SDN solution[buzzword], which would be quick to implement.[3]
In April 2014 Pica8 claimed to be the first vendor to support the latest version 1.4 of OpenFlow[12][13] and to have over 300 customers globally.[4]
In October 2023, Pica8 officially authorized FS to sell its full product range, including but not limited to PicOS®, PicOS-V, and the AmpCon™ Network Controller, covering a wide spectrum of applications ranging from 1G to 400G speeds. Meanwhile, customers will benefit from ongoing services to meet their network customization and future[14]
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PicOS
PicOS (formerly known as XorPlus[9][15]) is a network operating system (NOS) that Pica8 has developed based on XORP, an eXtensible Open Router Platform.[15] The operating system works on an unmodified Linux kernel and is extended with a range of network and switching services.[8]
PicOS includes a traditional Layer-2 / Layer-3 switching mode (L2/L3 Mode) and has support for OpenFlow protocol, standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), through Open vSwitch (OVS). OVS runs as a process on the Debian Linux distribution.[15]
PicaPilot
In addition to PicOS, Pica8 offers a second core technology solution[buzzword] called PicaPilot, which was announced in May 2018. PicaPilot is an automated switch configuration and management application that runs on Pica8-enabled switches alongside PicOS. Designed as a replacement for legacy Ethernet switch stacks and chassis switches, PicaPilot compresses dozens of access- and aggregation-layer leaf-spine topology switches into a single layer and allows them to be managed as a single logical switch with a single consolidated IP address.
CrossFlow
On 10 November 2014 Pica8 announced CrossFlow, a new feature in the PicOS NOS that enables network managers to integrate OpenFlow applications and business policies with existing layer 2/layer 3 networks. Users can run layer 2/layer 3 protocols and OpenFlow protocols on all the switch ports in a network at the same time. OpenFlow can be used for policy-driven applications to bring business logic to the network. The traditional network can optimize packet transport and performance with protocols, such as OSPF, Spanning Tree, and BGP.[16][17]
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