MRO-TEK Bets on SONIC NOS After 56.9% Revenue Surge [2026]

MRO-TEK Networks is preparing to push into data center switching, betting that an indigenous network operating system built on a disaggregated model can carry it past the hyperscale vendors that dominate the segment today. CS Krishnadas, Chief Executive Officer of MRO-TEK Networks, confirmed the plan in comments reported by ET Telecom on October 14, 2026, laying out a roadmap that pairs homegrown switching hardware with a software stack the company calls SONIC NOS.

The announcement lands at a moment when data center operators worldwide are rethinking who builds the switching layer underneath their racks. Cloud providers have spent the past several years pushing disaggregated networking, where the switch hardware and the operating system come from different vendors, as a way to cut licensing costs and avoid single-vendor lock-in. MRO-TEK’s move signals that an Indian networking OEM now wants a seat at that table, not just as a hardware supplier but as an operating-system developer in its own right.

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What MRO-TEK Networks Actually Announced

According to ET Telecom, Krishnadas described data center switching as the company’s next step after years of building its core networking business. “The next step is to get into data center switching. We have a disaggregated approach, with which we are going on to develop our own ‘SONIC NOS’,” he said. The name points to SONiC, the open source switch operating system originally built by Microsoft for its Azure data centers and later handed to the Open Compute Project, where it has since become a common base for disaggregated networking projects across the industry.

MRO-TEK Networks Limited, to use the full legal name listed on the company’s own site, is not a new entrant to networking hardware. The company has built Ethernet switches, routers, managed switches and SD-WAN gear for telecom, enterprise and public-sector customers in India for years. What is new is the ambition to own the operating system layer that runs on top of its switches, rather than licensing a proprietary NOS from an outside vendor or shipping bare hardware for customers to pair with their own software.

Krishnadas also flagged plans to build security capabilities directly into that software stack. “We are also looking at building security platforms that can work around our NOS, so that it is a more secure product,” he said, according to the same ET Telecom report. That framing suggests MRO-TEK wants to differentiate on more than cost. Baking security tooling into the NOS itself, rather than bolting it on as a separate appliance, is a design choice several larger networking vendors have also pursued as data center operators face more scrutiny over supply chain integrity.

The Existing Switching Portfolio: 1G to 100G

MRO-TEK’s pitch to data center customers rests partly on a switching range it already ships. Krishnadas said the company’s portfolio spans 1G to 100G, all manufactured domestically under India’s “Made in India” branding, with what he described as more than 60 percent local content. He added that the company expects to soon reach Class 1 certification status for its 100G products, a procurement classification used in Indian government and public-sector tenders that rewards higher domestic content with preferential treatment in bidding.

That local-content detail matters more than it might look on first read. India’s public procurement rules under its Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives have increasingly tied government and public-sector contract eligibility to the share of domestic manufacturing content in a product. A vendor that can demonstrate over 60 percent local content on a 100G switch has a real advantage bidding into state-run telecom and data center tenders compared with a multinational OEM importing fully built units. It also explains why MRO-TEK is investing in software, not just hardware assembly, since government buyers increasingly want to know where the firmware and operating system underneath the silicon actually come from.

Krishnadas framed the broader strategic gap plainly in comments to ET Telecom: domestic firms have built a strong reputation in software services, but very few have invested in building a network operating system from the ground up. That is the gap MRO-TEK says it intends to fill, treating NOS development as a category India’s networking sector has largely left to foreign vendors.

Why Disaggregated Switching Keeps Gaining Ground

Disaggregation separates the switch’s hardware, its operating system and its applications into components that a buyer can source independently, rather than purchasing a sealed box from a single vendor. The model took hold first among hyperscale cloud operators, who had the in-house engineering talent to integrate merchant silicon from chipmakers with an open NOS and write their own management tooling on top. SONiC, the project MRO-TEK is referencing with its SONIC NOS name, grew out of exactly that environment: Microsoft built it to run Azure’s data center switches, then open sourced it through the Open Compute Project so other operators and vendors could adopt and extend it.

The appeal for a company like MRO-TEK is straightforward. Building a disaggregated NOS rather than a fully proprietary operating system lets it draw on an existing open source codebase and community rather than starting from zero, while still giving it room to add its own features, security layers and certifications on top. For a regional vendor trying to break into data center switching, a bet on disaggregation also doubles as a bet on interoperability: a customer who deploys MRO-TEK switches running a SONiC-based NOS is not locking themselves into a single vendor’s proprietary command set the way they would with legacy switch operating systems from established networking incumbents.

That said, the search results and company statements reviewed for this story do not establish a launch date, commercial availability date, pricing, a specific data-center switch model, port configuration or throughput figures for SONIC NOS, nor do they confirm whether SONIC NOS is the same product as “UNOS,” a name that appears separately on MRO-TEK’s own website. Readers should treat the data center switching push as an announced strategic direction rather than a shipping product with a confirmed spec sheet.

MRO-TEK’s Financial Backdrop

The data center switching announcement did not arrive in isolation. Communications Today reported that MRO-TEK Networks’ product revenue rose 56.9 percent in its second quarter, with the company crediting customer demand for indigenous networking products, supply chain planning and the execution of existing customer orders. Aniruddha Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of MRO-TEK Networks, pointed to continued investment in research and development, with particular focus on indigenous network operating systems and next-generation switching technology, according to the same report.

That revenue growth gives the data center switching plan more weight than a speculative roadmap slide. A company posting double-digit product revenue growth and explicitly citing R&D investment in network operating systems is backing its stated strategy with capital, even though the specific commercial terms of a data center switch launch remain unannounced. For engineers and procurement teams tracking India’s networking supply base, the Q2 numbers suggest MRO-TEK has the balance sheet momentum to fund a multi-year NOS development effort rather than treating it as a side project.

How This Fits the Global Disaggregated Networking Market

MRO-TEK’s move arrives as global data center operators continue rebalancing how much of their switching layer comes from any single vendor. Nvidia, AMD, Google and Meta have been working through the Open Compute Project toward shared infrastructure standards for data center power and networking, a sign that even the largest hyperscalers see value in common, vendor-neutral specifications rather than fully proprietary stacks (see our earlier coverage of Nvidia, AMD, Google and Meta’s data center grid standard). Optics vendors have moved in the same direction. Credo’s recent SRMO optics standard launch, backed by seven partners through the Open Compute Project, is part of the same broader trend toward open, interoperable data center hardware rather than single-vendor lock-in, as detailed in our report on Credo’s SRMO optics standard.

Networking software has followed a parallel arc. HPE has pitched self-driving network capabilities that it says can resolve 70 to 80 percent of network issues without manual intervention, an approach we covered in our piece on HPE’s self-driving network, while Nvidia opened up its Run:ai orchestration tools alongside other GPU infrastructure software, a move we examined in Nvidia Run:ai going open source. MRO-TEK’s SONIC NOS plan is a smaller-scale version of the same instinct: open the software layer, build a differentiated product around security and local manufacturing, and compete on more than raw port count.

The timing also lines up with heavier regulatory and procurement attention on where data center infrastructure comes from. FERC’s approval of PJM’s data center registry, which we covered separately, reflects how closely grid operators and regulators are now tracking data center infrastructure footprints in the United States (see our coverage of the FERC-approved PJM data center registry). In India, the procurement angle is different but related: Class 1 local-content certification functions as a gatekeeping mechanism for public-sector data center build-outs, and MRO-TEK’s stated plan to qualify its 100G products for that status is a direct response to that regulatory reality.

Competitive Field: Where MRO-TEK Stands

Data center switching is not an empty field. Established networking vendors already supply the switch hardware and proprietary operating systems that run most hyperscale and enterprise data centers worldwide, and open source alternatives built on SONiC have been available from several hardware partners for years. MRO-TEK’s differentiation, based on what Krishnadas has said publicly, rests on three pillars: domestic manufacturing content that qualifies for Indian public procurement preference, a disaggregated software approach that avoids proprietary lock-in, and a security layer built into the NOS rather than sold as a separate add-on.

None of those three pillars is unique in isolation. What is comparatively rare, at least among Indian networking OEMs, is a company trying to combine all three while also chasing Class 1 certification on its highest-speed switching products. Most domestic competitors in India’s networking hardware space have historically focused on lower layers of the stack, assembling or licensing switches rather than building an operating system from a disaggregated base. If MRO-TEK can execute on SONIC NOS as described, it would be one of the few Indian vendors positioned to sell a genuinely indigenous data center switching stack, hardware and software together, into both public-sector and enterprise accounts.

The risk, of course, is execution. Building and maintaining a network operating system is a multi-year engineering commitment even when starting from an open source base like SONiC. Established vendors have spent well over a decade refining feature parity, driver support across chipsets, and the operational tooling that large data center customers expect. MRO-TEK has not disclosed a timeline for when SONIC NOS will be commercially available, and the company’s own statements stop short of naming specific customers or pilot deployments for the data center switching line.

Historical Context: India’s Push for Indigenous Networking

MRO-TEK’s announcement sits inside a longer-running policy push in India to reduce dependence on imported telecom and networking equipment. The Department of Telecommunications has spent several years encouraging domestic design and manufacturing of networking gear, partly on cost grounds and partly on supply chain security grounds following broader global scrutiny of telecom equipment provenance. Local-content thresholds tied to procurement preference, the same Class 1 classification Krishnadas referenced for MRO-TEK’s 100G switches, have been one of the policy’s main levers.

Networking software has lagged behind networking hardware in that indigenization push, which is the gap Krishnadas pointed to directly when he said India’s strength in software services has not translated into many companies building network operating systems. That is a notable admission from inside the industry rather than a marketing claim, and it sets up MRO-TEK’s SONIC NOS project as an attempt to close a specific, named gap rather than a generic “indigenous innovation” pitch.

Market Impact for Cloud and Data Center Buyers

For cloud operators and enterprise data center teams outside India, MRO-TEK’s announcement is unlikely to shift sourcing decisions in the near term given the absence of a confirmed product launch date or published specs. The more immediate impact is domestic: Indian public-sector data center projects, telecom operators and enterprises that must meet local-content procurement rules now have a vendor explicitly building a software stack to match those rules at the 100G tier, rather than just assembling hardware around someone else’s NOS.

There is a broader signal here too. As more regional vendors invest in SONiC-based or otherwise disaggregated network operating systems, the pool of interoperable, non-proprietary switching software available to data center operators globally grows a little larger. That trend compounds with every new regional entrant, and it puts gradual pricing and feature pressure on networking incumbents whose business models depend partly on proprietary software lock-in. Buyers comparing cloud infrastructure costs across providers, a topic we covered when examining AWS, Azure and GCP cloud spend and GPU pricing, know that networking and switching costs are a meaningful line item inside those broader infrastructure bills, and more competition at the switch and NOS layer has knock-on effects for what cloud providers ultimately charge customers.

Container orchestration teams weighing cost tradeoffs, such as those comparing ECS against EKS on fees and engineering overhead, operate a layer above the physical switching fabric, but the economics are connected. Cheaper, more open switching hardware and software at the data center layer eventually filters through to lower infrastructure costs for the compute and orchestration layers built on top of it, even if that effect takes years to show up in public cloud pricing.

MRO-TEK Networks at a Glance

Detail	Status
Company legal name	MRO-TEK Networks Limited
CEO	CS Krishnadas
Chairman and Managing Director	Aniruddha Mehta
Existing switching range	1G to 100G
Local content on switching products	More than 60 percent, described as “Made in India”
Certification target	Class 1 status for 100G products, expected soon
New operating system	SONIC NOS, built on a disaggregated approach
Security plan	Security platforms designed to work around the NOS
Product revenue growth (Q2)	56.9 percent, per Communications Today
Commercial launch date for SONIC NOS	Not disclosed

Disaggregated Networking: Key Players and Approaches

Initiative	Focus Area	Approach
MRO-TEK SONIC NOS	Data center switching software	Disaggregated NOS with built-in security platforms
Nvidia, AMD, Google, Meta OCP grid work	Data center power and grid standards	Shared, vendor-neutral infrastructure specifications
Credo SRMO optics standard	Data center optical interconnects	Open standard backed by seven industry partners
HPE self-driving networking	Network operations automation	Automated resolution of 70 to 80 percent of network issues
Nvidia Run:ai open source tools	GPU infrastructure orchestration	Open sourced GPU scheduling and management tooling

What CS Krishnadas Told Reporters

Beyond the headline data center switching plan, Krishnadas used his comments to ET Telecom to make a broader argument about where India’s networking industry has underinvested. He told the outlet that the country’s software services strength has not carried over into network operating system development, and that very few domestic companies have made that investment, a gap he said MRO-TEK intends to close. He also tied the data center push directly to the company’s existing switching line, noting that the 1G to 100G portfolio already carries the local-content credentials the new software stack is meant to extend.

On security, Krishnadas was specific about the design intent rather than naming a product: the goal is a security platform that works around the NOS itself, making the whole switch more secure by design rather than relying on separate bolt-on appliances. That framing echoes a broader industry shift toward embedding security into infrastructure software rather than treating it as a perimeter add-on, a shift we have also tracked in coverage of security advances like Anthropic’s work cutting distillation attack rates, where the underlying principle, building protection into the core system rather than around it, is similar even though the technology domains differ.

Predictions: Where This Goes Next

MRO-TEK is likely to announce a specific SONIC NOS product name, pilot customer or certification milestone within the next two to three quarters, given the Q2 revenue momentum Communications Today reported and the R&D investment Mehta described.
Class 1 certification for the company’s 100G switching line will probably arrive before any commercial SONIC NOS launch, since certification unlocks public-sector tender eligibility that can fund further software development.
Expect more Indian networking vendors to announce their own disaggregated NOS projects over the next 12 to 18 months, following the same local-content and procurement logic MRO-TEK is pursuing.
Security-by-design claims around the new NOS will draw scrutiny from enterprise and public-sector buyers who will want independent validation before deploying it in production data centers, not just vendor statements.
Global disaggregated networking standards work through the Open Compute Project, spanning power, optics and now a widening set of regional NOS projects, will keep gaining participants as more vendors conclude that open, interoperable switching layers beat proprietary lock-in on cost and supply chain grounds.

What Remains Unconfirmed

Several details that would normally accompany a product launch of this scale are not yet public. There is no confirmed launch date or commercial availability window for SONIC NOS, no published pricing, no named data center switch model built specifically for the new software, and no disclosed port configuration or throughput specification. It is also not established whether SONIC NOS is the same product as “UNOS,” a name referenced separately on MRO-TEK’s corporate website, or a distinct project running in parallel. Readers evaluating MRO-TEK as a potential vendor should treat this as a confirmed strategic direction from the company’s CEO, not a shipping product with a finalized spec sheet.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did MRO-TEK Networks announce?
CEO CS Krishnadas said the company plans to expand into data center switching and is developing its own disaggregated network operating system, called SONIC NOS, along with security platforms designed to work around that software.

What is SONIC NOS?
SONIC NOS is MRO-TEK’s own network operating system, described by Krishnadas as built on a disaggregated approach. The name references SONiC, the open source switch operating system originally developed by Microsoft for Azure and later contributed to the Open Compute Project.

What switching products does MRO-TEK already sell?
Krishnadas said the company’s existing portfolio spans 1G to 100G switching products, manufactured with more than 60 percent local content under India’s Made in India standard.

What is Class 1 certification and why does it matter?
Class 1 is a local-content classification used in Indian public procurement that gives preferential treatment to products with higher domestic manufacturing content. MRO-TEK said it expects to soon attain Class 1 status for its 100G products, which would improve its eligibility for government and public-sector data center tenders.

Is SONIC NOS available to buy yet?
No. Public reporting on the announcement does not establish a launch date, commercial availability window, pricing or specific product model for SONIC NOS. It is currently a stated development direction rather than a shipping product.

How is MRO-TEK’s business performing financially?
Communications Today reported that MRO-TEK Networks’ product revenue rose 56.9 percent in its second quarter, with the company citing customer demand for indigenous networking products and continued investment in research and development.

Who leads MRO-TEK Networks?
CS Krishnadas serves as Chief Executive Officer, and Aniruddha Mehta serves as Chairman and Managing Director of MRO-TEK Networks Limited.

How does this compare to global disaggregated networking trends?
MRO-TEK’s approach mirrors a broader industry shift toward open, interoperable data center infrastructure, seen in initiatives like Credo’s SRMO optics standard and the Open Compute Project’s data center grid work backed by Nvidia, AMD, Google and Meta, all of which favor vendor-neutral specifications over single-vendor lock-in.

MRO-TEK Bets on SONIC NOS for 100G Data Center Switch