NICo Q3/Q4 2026 public roadmap

[deepak-poornachandra]

Public Roadmap

Hi NICo developers and users!

This roadmap summarizes the current NICo direction for August 2026 and beyond. It is directional, not a commitment to ship every item listed. Scope and sequencing will continue to change as we learn from contributors and users.

NICo tracks public roadmap work with GitHub issues labeled roadmap. Use the public milestones and tracking issues for the most current implementation status:

• NICo milestones

v2.1: Release Hardening and Site Operations

Target window: August 2026

Release and operational items:

• Sanitize host BMC during tenant release: #4759
• Handle expired switch certificates in nvlink manager cert rotation: #4568
• State-controlled compute tray power control: #2679
• Align RMS firmware update state transitions after completion: #2016

Delivered as part of v2.1:

• Add BMC Proxy into Core Helmchart: #3298
• Add RMS-Related Configs into Core Helmchart: #3299
• Site Wide Phase-Controlled Operation Run: #3131
• auto-select VPC Prefix during instance/interface creation for FNN VPCs: #3110
• NICo CLI 2.1 follow-up REST parity: #2852
• Add REST API endpoints to created, update and delete SKUs: #2810
• Add SKU validation mapping for drive PCI addresses to ensure correct OS install target: #2795
• Synchronize managed host boot interfaces from durable desired state: #2660
• NMX-C Cluster Management via RMS: #2463
• Per-Object (Machine/Instance/Host) State Progress Observability: #2186
• Remove Expected Inventory REST API Writes to Flow: #2127
• Unbundle FW Artifacts/Versions from Core/Backend Deployment via Firmware "Object" e2e: #2114
• REST API should expose targetedInstanceCreation tenant capability toggle: #2104
• Observability: #1989

v2.2: Control-Plane Expansion

Target window: later in 2026

v2.2 focuses on next-generation platform support and the control-plane capabilities needed for newer rack, DPU, networking, power, and trust workflows.

Priority areas:

• Eliminate dependency on Vault: #195
• DPF changes for Astra, including service support, DPU deployment variants, hardware-triggered reprovisioning, multi-reboot flows, and Spectrum-X configuration handling: #3103
• Spectrum-X partitioning and multitenancy: #259
• Domain-level topology, power control, and firmware update APIs that can extend beyond racks to rows, scalable units, and larger domains: #2080
• Automation framework for state, event, and time-triggered task execution: #2073
• DPU device identity using BlueField IRoT for node identity bootstrap without mTLS: #1713
• Rack validation and multinode test framework: #416
• Health history for switches, power shelves, and racks: #574
• Tenant-visible instance health status: #2962

API and networking improvements:

• Routing Profile lifecycle management through REST API: #2624
• IP block ownership migration into NICo Core: #3883
• Redfish session-token usage for BMC-facing services: #991

Operational and scale improvements:

• Task sequence customization for built-in rack and tray lifecycle operations: #2072
• BMC proxy and DPS-facing power provisioning flows: #2465

v2.3: Usability & Scale

Target window: October 2026

v2.3 focuses on SMC GB300 readiness, deployment hardening, stability, usability, simulation at scale, and reducing operational complexity.

Priority areas:

• SMC GB300 Rack enablement: #1909
• BlueField-4 support: #257
• REST API, OpenAPI, nicocli, and documentation parity for current admin workflows: #1889
• Observability reference architecture for logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, and alerting: #2438
• Per-object lifecycle progress observability for machines, instances, hosts, DPUs, state transitions, and manual intervention: #2962

Operational and scale improvements:

• NICo scaling tests and large-deployment readiness: #2939, #1864
• Site-wide phased operation runs for large-scale firmware updates and other controlled operations: #2073
• Firmware object model to unbundle firmware artifacts and versions from core/backend deployment: #3066
• BMC proxy and DPS-facing power provisioning flows: #2465
• Local and scale simulation improvements through nico-machine-a-tron: #2939
• Cleanup and usability improvements for machine/rack workflows and inventory operations: #4903, #4975

v2.4+: IPv6 Readiness and API Simplification

Target window: later in 2026 and beyond

v2.4+ focuses on IPv6 readiness, API simplification, and the next layer of operational automation.

Priority areas:

• IPv6 support across managed hosts, BMC networks, DHCP, EVPN, overlay networks, IP allocations, monitoring, and Spectrum-X networks: #84
• IPv6 DPU/agent support: #1713
• IPv6 readiness and bug-fix bucket: #84
• Critical IPv6 bug fixes, including /64 allocation, BMC URL formatting, tenant IPv6 route leaking, IPv6 nameserver propagation, and IPv6 capacity reporting: #3883
• Dual-stack overlay, EVPN, DHCP, DNS, and customer documentation work: #84, #1939, #1887
• NICo REST MCP support for read-only API operations: #1889

Needs tracking issue:

• Stateless REST API direction and scope.

2027+: Ecosystem expansion and governance

Target window: 2027 and beyond

The longer-term roadmap expands NICo across partner hardware, modular networking, ecosystem integration, and community governance.

Priority areas:

• LPX rack deployment evaluation and enablement: #2818
• Modular SDN controller mode for external SDN controllers and partner networking stacks: #982
• Partner integration guidance, including storage vendor integration boundaries: #3059
• Dashboards packaged in the repository and installable through Helm charts: #1696
• Unified instrumentation standard for logs and metrics: #3169

Needs tracking issue:

• NVCert or equivalent certification flow for additional vendor-driven hardware support.
• OSS community governance model.