MWC Barcelona 2026 Recap: Driving the Future of Open Networking

Another MWC Barcelona has come to an end, and what a strong week it was for VyOS Networks. 

We were proud to be part of one of the most important global gatherings in telecom, cloud, and infrastructure, where we met with customers, partners, and industry leaders navigating familiar challenges: vendor lock-in, licensing complexity, fragmented tooling, and growing performance demands across cloud, edge, and on-prem environments.

That is exactly where VyOS continues to stand out.

VyOS at MWC: Highlights

MWC Barcelona 2026 made one thing clear: demand for open, enterprise-ready networking is growing.

We spoke with service providers, enterprises, and infrastructure teams looking for alternatives to proprietary systems shaped by rigid licensing models, closed ecosystems, and limited architectural flexibility.

What they want instead is clear:

• More control over network design and operations
• Greater visibility into the stack they rely on
• A more sustainable path to scale without feature gating or licensing friction
• Consistency across cloud, virtualized, bare metal, and edge environments

VyOS addresses these needs with a unified platform for routing, firewalling, VPN, and automation across modern infrastructure.

VyOS 1.5 LTS: A Major Step Forward

A major focus of our presence at MWC this year was VyOS 1.5 LTS, our latest Long Term Support release.

It reflects the continued maturity of open networking for production use, giving organizations a stronger foundation for building secure, scalable, and high-performance networks with greater confidence.

At the event, it resonated strongly with teams looking for:

• A stable platform for long-term production planning
• High-performance networking capabilities
• Operational consistency across deployment models
• Greater ownership of network behavior and lifecycle decisions

For many visitors, the appeal was not just about features. It was about reducing dependency on proprietary vendors, regaining flexibility, and avoiding the licensing complexity that often slows growth and limits design choices.

Industry Themes That Stood Out

Several themes shaped our conversations throughout the week:

• Open networking is moving further into the mainstream
• Control is becoming a strategic requirement
• Licensing models are under greater scrutiny
• Hybrid infrastructure is now the norm
• Automation readiness matters more than ever

Across all of these discussions, the common goal was clear: giving teams more ownership and control.

Thank You to Everyone Who Met with Us

MWC Barcelona 2026 would not have been the same without the customers, partners, operators, and peers who took the time to meet with the VyOS team.

Thank you to everyone who visited our stand, joined a conversation, and shared the priorities shaping your networks today.

What’s Next

While MWC Barcelona 2026 may be over, the conversations are far from finished.

The momentum from this year’s event reinforced what we strongly believe: organizations want a more open, transparent, and controllable approach to networking. They want to reduce dependency, simplify operations, and build infrastructure that can evolve with their business. VyOS 1.5 LTS and continued platform innovation, we remain focused on giving enterprises, service providers, and infrastructure teams a stronger path forward built around ownership, flexibility, and long-term operational confidence.

If you did not get a chance to meet with us in Barcelona, we would still be glad to continue the conversation.

Get in touch with our team!

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