Posted 28 Sep, 2026 by Gizem Yigit

Open networking platform enables redundant full-BGP infrastructure, in-house deployment, and hands-on network training at UEC-Tokyo.

POWAY, Calif., Sep 28, 2026 – VyOS Networks today announced a new customer success story featuring AS38649 (UEC-EXP), an educational and experimental network operated by the Yazaki Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications (UEC Tokyo), and how the laboratory uses VyOS to support full BGP routing, a resilient network infrastructure, and hands-on student training.

AS38649 is intentionally separated from the university’s production infrastructure, giving students and researchers a dedicated environment for learning, testing, and validating network technologies. Through the network, student members gain direct experience with internet routing, peering, and day-to-day network operations rather than relying exclusively on simulation.

As AS38649 grew, the laboratory needed to introduce router redundancy while maintaining support for full Internet routing tables. Its previous environment relied primarily on routers from major commercial vendors, but deploying multiple hardware appliances made a redundant architecture difficult to scale in a research environment. The team began evaluating software-based alternatives that could support operational BGP, integrate with its existing network, and remain accessible to students.

After evaluating BIRD and FRRouting alongside VyOS, the laboratory selected VyOS for its proven full-BGP capabilities, structured command-line interface, extensive documentation, and Linux-based flexibility. Student members were also already using VyOS for personal projects, helping reduce the learning curve during adoption.

VyOS provided a complete network operating system that combined a familiar CLI with support for BGP, OSPF, VXLAN, WireGuard, and Linux-based extensions such as Tailscale and the Zabbix agent. The laboratory also highlighted the attentive and thorough support it received from the VyOS team throughout the evaluation process.

Implementation highlights include:

  • Deployed entirely in-house in approximately one week
  • Operates as the laboratory’s BGP edge router
  • Supports full internet routing tables
  • Integrated with the existing network using BGP and OSPF
  • Enables redundant software-based router configurations
  • Provides virtual routing environments for validation, experimentation, and student training
  • Additional deployment as a VyOS looking glass node under consideration

With VyOS in place, AS38649 met its full BGP requirements, made redundant infrastructure more practical, and reduced its reliance on dedicated proprietary routing hardware. The laboratory can also create virtual routers and validation environments more easily, giving students direct access to routing capabilities that would otherwise require specialized hardware.

“VyOS allows us to easily build virtual routers with fully functional BGP, giving student members hands-on opportunities to work with BGP and use it for training exercises. This is especially valuable because hardware capable of handling full BGP routes is typically difficult to obtain,” said Koichi Hirachi, Network Team, Yazaki Laboratory, AS38649 (UEC-EXP), University of Electro-Communications (UEC Tokyo).

VyOS now supports both the operation of AS38649 and the laboratory’s broader educational mission. Students can configure routing protocols, build virtual routers, create validation environments, and troubleshoot real network behavior using the same platform that supports the laboratory’s edge routing.

Looking ahead, the Yazaki Laboratory is considering a VyOS-based looking glass node, NETCONF-based configuration automation, and additional hands-on training environments for routing, peering, and modern networking protocols.

For more information about VyOS for research, education, and network training environments, contact us at sales@vyos.io.

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