After announcing a couple of months back that their Azure cloud hosting platform supported a host of GNU/Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), CentOS (OpenLogic), Oracle Linux, CoreOS, and OpenSUSE, Microsoft reveals a new product, Azure Cloud Switch.

Based on the latest Linux technologies, Microsoft's Azure Cloud Switch (ACS) is a cross-platform and modular operating system that the Redmond-based tech company uses to develop software products for network devices, such as switches. Microsoft developers use the Linux-based Azure Cloud Switch operating system to test, debug, and fix software bugs faster than ever, as well as to scale down software and build new functionality.

"The Azure Cloud Switch (ACS) is our foray into building our own software for running network devices like switches. It is a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux. ACS allows us to debug, fix, and test software bugs much faster," says Kamala Subramaniam, Principal Architect, Azure Networking. "ACS believes in the power of Open Networking. [...] ACS allows to use and extend Open Source, Microsoft, and Third Party applications."

Azure Cloud Switch is used for sharing software stacks across different hardware

In addition to debugging their in-house built software, Microsoft uses the Azure Cloud Switch Linux-based operating system to share software stacks across different hardware from various switch vendors, simply by using the Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) specification, which can be used for programming network switching application-specific integrated circuits.

Azure Cloud Switch can also be integrated with Microsoft’s diagnostics and monitoring system, and features a Lean Stack, which is used for testing and repairing network device software bugs much faster, and a Modular Stack, making validation easier than ever. Based on some of the latest Linux technologies, ACS can use open-source applications, third-party software, and apps designed by Microsoft.