Netronome, the leading developer of network flow processors, today disclosed the details of a unique architecture for OpenFlow gateways built on their network flow processing technology together with Metaswitch’s SDN-enabled control plane software. A live demonstration of this solution will be at the Open Networking Summit (ONS) on April 15-17 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Netronome will be stationed at booth No. 405.
The demonstration will showcase using OpenFlow to control network gateways between an MPLS backbone network and two IP networks. Each gateway uses Netronome’s groundbreaking NFP silicon and flexible and scalable SDN OpenFlow forwarding architecture, controlled by Metaswitch Networks’ industry leading SDN control plane for MPLS-signaled networks.
“We are excited about the partnership with Netronome and opportunity to bring this carrier SDN solution to the Open Networking Summit,” said Andy Randall, senior vice president of networking technologies at Metaswitch Networks. “The NFP provides us with the programmable dataplane that unlocks many differentiating features of our control plane software, which is at the heart of devices deployed in every major global carrier network. Together, we are at the forefront of commercializing OpenFlow-based SDN solutions and look forward to building networks with our complementary technologies.”
Netronome will also have industry experts Johann Tönsing, Nabil Damouny and Rolf Neugebauer in attendance to discuss the latest trends in SDN. Both Tönsing and Damouny hold key positions within the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and the newly formed Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) ISG under ETSI. Tönsing, the vice chair of the Forwarding Abstractions Working Group (FAWG), and Damouny, the vice chair of the ONF Market Education Committee (MEC), contribute to defining the future architectural direction of OpenFlow and creating the necessary market awareness to drive SDNs to wider adoption. Within the NFV ISG, Tönsing and Damouny are coordinating the interfaces and abstraction plans as well as the compute domain requirements.
Neugebauer, a principal software engineer at Netronome, will be presenting “Selective and Transparent Acceleration of OpenFlow Switches” on Tuesday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. Neugebauer will define a unique approach to OpenFlow that retains software flexibility while addressing performance limitations inherent in software-only implementations. His research is based on the Open vSwitch project and includes performance analysis on varying processor types.
“Standards-based SDN is a future-proof, programmable solution for networking, with its integration into IT critical in enabling business agility in a competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace,” said Dan Pitt, executive director at ONF. “We are excited to see member companies helping to accelerate SDN services with advanced technology for the OpenFlow protocol in keeping with our mission to drive the global commercialization of open, standards-based SDN.”
Powered by 96 packet processing cores and 120 multi‐threaded flow processing cores operating at up to 1.2 GHz, Netronome’s NFP‐6xxx brings breakthrough performance to a broad range of network, security and content processing applications used in 40-200 Gbps networks. The NFP‐6xxx delivers 200 Gbps of packet processing with deep packet inspection, network and security processing, and I/O virtualization for millions of simultaneous flows. The NFP‐6xxx is the industry’s only processor specifically designed for tight coupling with x86 processors.
The Open Networking Foundation is a non-profit consortium dedicated to the transformation of networking through the development and standardization of a unique architecture called SDN, which brings direct software programmability to networks worldwide. The mission of the foundation is to commercialize and promote SDN and the underlying technologies as a disruptive approach to networking that will change how virtually every company with a network operates. The Open Networking Summit shares and explores the key developments and deployments in the quickly evolving world of OpenFlow/SDN. As an independently reviewed non-profit, ONS offers the highest caliber presentations, tutorials, and exhibitions, as well as the latest in SDN research.