Networking

Analyze this…Accelerate that…

By Steve Konish

In just three short months, the engineering team at Wind River has added new, amazing capabilities to the Wind River Intelligent Network Platform.  These enhancements to the platform allow applications to go even deeper and faster than ever before.    

When we first launched the platform, it included two data plane engines for packet acceleration and pattern matching.  The two engines together created an incredible software-enabled solution to provide high-performance deep packet inspection (DPI) for network applications. We’ve now added a third data plane engine, the Flow Analysis Engine (FAE), which allows applications to incorporate even greater network intelligence.  The Flow Analysis Engine offers complete visibility into network traffic in real time, including flow classification, protocol and application identification, and metadata extraction.

 

With the addition of the Flow Analysis Engine, Wind River Intelligent Network Platform delivers the most comprehensive and integrated DPI solution on the market today.  Imagine being able to use one platform to consolidate management and data plane applications and also have the ability to accelerate, analyze, and secure network applications that help you deliver even greater value to your customers.

But wait…it gets better. We’ve added some very cool innovations to the platform that allows for the transparent acceleration of Linux-based applications.  This means any existing application can leverage the fast path within the Application Acceleration Engine without having to modify a single line of code.  That’s right, unmodified applications can be accelerated up to 300% faster.  This capability is so extraordinary we had to patent it. Or, if you make the extra effort to also port and optimize your application for the platform, you can achieve even greater performance…up to 500% faster.

Want to see the Wind River Intelligent Network Platform in action?  We’ll be showcasing the platform at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain and at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.  Let me know if you’re planning to attend one these events and either myself or one of product experts will personally give you a tour of the platform.   

 For additional information from Wind River, visit us on Facebook.

Poll Results are in...Network Intelligence Heading to Edge and Core

By Steve Konish

If you’re an information junkie like I am, informative charts and polls always catch the eye. Polls are great for capturing an instant snapshot of public opinion on a specific topic. By no means are they scientific. However, they do give us some useful data to gauge whether or not other people share the same opinions we do.

We decided to conduct our own poll related to network intelligence. During a recent Wind River webinar, titled Triple Crown of Network Goes to Software, we took a poll of 200 attendees. If you missed the webinar, not to worry, you can view the archived version. The poll asked the audience where they think network intelligence is initially most needed.  The respondents, mostly network equipment providers, gave us these results:

Where do you think Network Intelligence needs to be added in first?
	a) CPE/CLE (Residential and small business )
	7.7%
	b) Access products (Example: Base stations BRAS, DSLAM..)
	7.7%
	c) Edge products (example: Gateways and radio controllers
	30.8%
	d) Core Products (Call Servers, Routers..)
	38.5%
	Other location
	15.4%

For the most part, the results are not surprising - network intelligence and deep packet inspection functionality are needed in edge and core products. This aligns with the initial interest we are seeing for our newly announced Wind River Intelligent Network Platform.The edge and the core is typically where we see data plane and control plane functionality consolidating to create one network element capable of delivery high performance packet processing with software enabled deep packet inspection – two of the most important elements for enabling network intelligence. 

What is curious about the poll results is that zero respondents identified access products as a critical place for network intelligence right off the bat.  And even more surprising is the 25% of respondents thinking CPE and Other are the next most likely places.  If you have an idea of what “Other” might mean….send us an email (steve.konish@windriver.com).  We also want to hear from you if you think these results differ from what you are experiencing in the market today.  

For additional information from Wind River, visit us on Facebook.

Just minutes to a faster, smarter and more secure network

By Stephen Konish

A few minutes…and you’re on the fast path to building the next generation of faster, smarter and more secure network applications. Three minutes – that’s all it typically takes to install key components of the new Wind River Intelligent Network Platform. 

So, let’s take the next few minutes to look at  an evolution taking place for our networking and communications customers and Wind River’s software solutions for this market.  Tens of billions of connected devices continue to generate massive amounts of traffic and security threats are on the rise. In order to better manage the flood of traffic and handle these threats, greater network intelligence and security (without sacrificing high performance) is needed. On top of that, network products need to be scalable to handle future growth. Wind River is rising to meet these challenges and this evolution starts with the newly launched Wind River Intelligent Network Platform.  It is an integrated and optimized embedded software platform consisting of the critical runtime components needed to build high-performance intelligent network products.  So, what does that mean for the customer?

• Incredible network protocol and application acceleration performance – up to 1100% improvement in IP-forwarding, and up to a 500% improvement in throughput for UDP and performance boost for TCP.
• Virtually limitless value-add intelligence opportunity with software-enabled deep packet inspection functionality
• Huge time to market advantage with years of engineering investment already done for you – (did I mention the three minute installation?)

And it gets even better. Wind River Intelligent Network Platform is designed to give customers maximum scalability and flexibility to build more advanced network elements across product lines and across the infrastructure. The platform takes full advantage of the latest multicore processors from Intel allowing for the consolidation of management and data plane into one system. The platform serves as the foundation for a number of evolving network applications such as: secure clouds, VPNs, intelligent edge servers, and the list goes on.

Now, are you ready  to learn more about the Wind River Intelligent Network Platform?  I’ll be taking a deep dive look into the different functional components of the platform in an upcoming webinar. In the meantime, check out additional product details here. We’re eager to help customers get a jump on the changing network. 

 

For additional information from Wind River, visit us on Facebook.

Got DPDK? We Can Help You!

By Glenn Seiler

If you’ve purchased a communications processor from Intel in the last year, there is a strong likelihood you are familiar with the Intel® Data Plane Development Kit. Intel DPDK, as it is commonly referred to here at Wind River, is a set of libraries that help applications transmit and receive packet data as efficiently as possible on Intel Xeon multicore processors.  System architects and designers of networking applications can leverage the Intel DPDK to accelerate packets through layer 3 to create a fast path for packets to build high performance applications.  Mastering the fast path opens the door to a world of new high-value intelligent applications like deep packet inspection (DPI), and security.

But mastering the fast path is no easy task.  This can be especially true if you are considering migration from another architecture or protocol stack to take advantage of the increased power of Intel architecture (IA). Nearly every communications company I have talked to over the last few years is starting to consider Intel architecture for data plane applications as well as the traditional applications and control plane typically that IA is used for. The good news is you don’t have to make this transition  alone.  Wind River is now making our team of technical experts available to support any Intel DPDK project regardless of underlying operating system.  Yes, Wind River will support Intel DPDK application development on any Linux whether it is Wind River Linux, your own in-house distribution, or a third party commercial Linux distribution. Check out our latest news.

With this commercial support offer, Wind River can boast the most comprehensive portfolio of Intel DPDK solutions.  Here is just some of the things that we have to offer:

1.  If you’re evaluating Intel processors you can leverage Wind River Simics to simulate your hardware and software system. 
2. If you’re a Wind River Linux customer you have the benefit of leveraging the heavy lifting we’ve already done to integrate, validate, and test the libraries with our market leading carrier grade Linux runtime. 
3. We’re also offering Wind River Carrier Grade Linux with Intel DPDK pre-integrated with a number of off the shelf IA platforms.  These kits include an evaluation of Wind River Workbench and our IA Performance Studio tools.  Check out this embedded development kit on the Intel’s E2600 Server Board.
4. If you’re new to DPDK want to learn more about it, you can attend one of our education courses that will get you up to speed quick
5. And if you’re still wanted to go it alone you can always access our technical experts for assistance with application design and performance optimizations.  Find out more about out rich portfolio of solutions here. 

And this is just the beginning.  We have a number of additional Intel DPDK professional services and solutions being added to the portfolio in the next few months.  Be sure to catch our upcoming webinar in June where we’ll be discussing “the great networking migration – 8 design decisions for next generation communications systems.” Our experts will discuss Intel DPDK and how it used for applications throughout the webinar.

 

For additional information from Wind River, visit us on Facebook.

Network Performance Front & Center Everywhere: How Will the Networking Industry Respond?

By Jessica Schieve

The need for network performance rang loud and clear at CES 2012. 

The way things are shaping up, the networking industry is in for an exciting 2012. Every year, in early January, the consumer electronics industry stages one of the biggest shows in the world, International CES held in Las Vegas. Given the largely consumer feel of the show, many of us in the networking and communications industries don’t typically focus major attention on the show but this year turned out to be a bit of an the exception. There were numerous products on display that are being designed for 3G and 4G networks and there was significant buzz around indications of what’s about to seriously impact our industry. Here are a few headlines that caught my eye:

• iPhone 4S Doubles Data Consumption
• Mobile Video Can 'Wreak Havoc' on Networks Without Proper Optimization, Says Strategy Analytics 
• Verizon Demands LTE in All Future Smartphones, Tablets

Reading between the lines, there were so many stories reinforcing the need for greater network performance. 2012 will be a critical year for suppliers of network infrastructure equipment to design products and solutions that deliver never-seen-before packet throughput performance. Without this, all those cool new devices just won’t deliver the fast and seamless user experience people have come to expect and demand.

Get Ready for the Performance Response at MWC

Just around the corner, the networking and communications industries will have their biggest event of the year, Mobile World Congress 2012 . Virtually every telecommunication infrastructure equipment company will be on hand showing its latest products. During the next few weeks, it will undoubtedly be interesting to see which equipment companies make moves to directly respond to the headlines above.   And if you’re heading to Mobile World Congress, you can see Wind River’s network acceleration solution in action. Check out what we’re doing and schedule a meeting here. 

Design in Network Performance Today

If designing a high-performance network product is your top priority for 2012, you’ll also want to read our latest white paper, jointly written with Intel,it  describes performance design options using multi-core software technologies. This paper goes deep. So, plan to curl up and dig in and share it with your team. 

Hope to you see you at Mobile World Congress 2012!

 

For additional information from Wind River, visit http://www.facebook.com/WindRiverSystems.  

Feeling the need for speed and making it happen

By Mark Guinther

“I feel the need…The need for speed!!”  Quoting old movies is where my similarities to Tom Cruise end, but it is a relevant line for today’s networking equipment.  Faster applications is one of the last steps in getting faster results to subscribers, resulting in happy subscribers which means happy service providers, happy service providers mean happy equipment providers, and… well, you get the point: Everybody is happier when their network runs faster. However, it’s getting tougher given the ever-increasing flood of data on today’s networks.    

Bigger, faster pipes are a start, but you can have the best infrastructure plumbing in the world and still have poor performance if your system and applications are a bottleneck.  Imagine a single lane bridge on an 8 lane highway and you are driving a Ferrari. Regardless of how fast your car can go, and how many lanes are available,  you don’t make much progress during rush hour because of that one single chokepoint at the bridge.  Likewise, a high capacity network doesn’t help unless your network equipment applications can keep up.  That means your systems need to be efficient when getting packets off the wire, through the kernel(s), to the right core, and peeling off the protocol layers to get those golden nuggets of rich web pages, pictures, files, and VoIP conversations.

The latest Wind River Network Acceleration Platform is  software designed to make efficient use of multicore silicon from the wire to the application, allowing network performance to efficiently scale with the number of cores in a processor, so you can clear the way for that Ferrari and enjoy real speed. After all, how much fun can it be if you can’t go really fast?

The Dawn of a Paradigm Shift in Embedded Device Software Security

By Marc Brown

The number of connected embedded and mobile devices is increasing exponentially, predicted to be in excess of 50 billion by 2020.  The lion’s share of this growth is expected to come from traditional market segments where there is an increasing push to transform sensing equipment to more autonomous embedded control, real-time telemetry, and proactive diagnostics. We all know website hacking is nothing new, but just imagine having your public water utility meter, your automobile safety functions, our public transportation traffic sensors, or even the national power grid being hacked by organized criminals or nation states.  This tsunami of connectivity and more intelligent control is creating a huge increase in security vulnerabilities that can impact financial profitability, public services and safety, and national defense. 

Many of today’s most advanced embedded control systems are based on a collection of standalone components – embedded operating systems, virtualization technologies, communication stacks, middleware, and application code.  These standalone products, and the companies that create them, lack the integrated security support required in today’s highly connected world, offering overall solutions that are only as safe as the weakest link. 

McAfee and Wind River have formed a strategic partnership to develop and support comprehensive, purpose-built security solutions specifically designed for these next-gen embedded devices.  This partnership will combine the security expertise from both companies, powering security solutions that support all software layers.  It’s our belief, that it’s time to proactively define and accelerate solutions that protect the functions a device is expected to perform and the data that it accepts from the cloud.

Given the huge liabilities and increased security activity, with over 55,000 new unique malware found on a daily basis, all companies developing embedded products will need to have strategies in place to cope with increasing security requirements.  Only Wind River and McAfee can handle the broad types of security vulnerabilities effecting embedded devices today.  By combining Wind River’s core security-certified runtime technologies, with McAfee’s whitelisting, anti-malware and global threat intelligence capabilities, we’ll be able to support a broad array of connected M2M capable devices for industrial automation, energy, medical, networking, consumer electronics, aerospace and defense.

It’s obvious that security and secure embedded solutions have become a necessity.  It’s also known that cyber attacks, global connectivity, and the associated risks are on the rise, accelerating at a near exponential rate.  Wind River and McAfee have defined something fundamental, something new, on the forefront of embedded solutions, which will solve the growing security requirements and aid in its evolution.  We are no longer in a world only concerned about performance, footprint, and connectivity…the world of highly performing secure embedded solutions has arrived.

 

Service-enabled gateways – The heart of the connected home

By Jessica Schieve

As we ring in the new year, 120,000+ people will descend on Las Vegas for the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show. The drumbeat to promote the next hot mobile or consumer device, application and technology is in full swing. The industry will be abuzz with press releases, product announcements and new partnerships.  And, yes, Wind River is gearing up for CES too. If you want to chat with us, give us a shout and we can definitely make time. 

This year, Wind River and Mindspeed have teamed up to deliver a turnkey high-performance reference platform to speed the development of service-enabling gateways. Gateways are quickly becoming the control point to manage broadband content and services. They are truly becoming the heart of the connected home.

At the show, we'll be demonstrating our integrated hardware and software solution, which includes Wind River Linux with middleware and software technologies for TR069, DLNA, OSGi, VoIP and ZigBee. This software bundle has been optimized for Mindspeed’s C1000 packet processor.  Customers can use this turnkey platform to build intelligent gateways that will enable multiple broadband services including home automation capabilities.

You can check out our gateway solution on the show floor in the Mindspeed booth in the South Hall room #MP25822. Or, you can request a private demonstration of the solution in our suite at the Las Vegas Hilton (Suite 1849/50/51). If you visit with us in our suite, you can also get a demonstration of the latest solutions for Android-based mobile devices and automotive infotaintment systems. Schedule a meeting with Wind River and learn more about what we’re showing at CES.  

See you in Las Vegas!

Wind River Network Acceleration Platform Wins Best Software Award

By Jessica Schieve

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 ATCA Summit Best of Show Awards ceremony where Wind River was presented the Best Software award for its Wind River Network Acceleration Platform.  
This is a major accomplishment for a industry solution that was launched less than a year ago. The panel of judges included industry editors as well as networking and telecom ecosystem peers.

So why would Wind River Network Acceleration Platform win top honors?  Let's consider the following. As I sat in a presentation about the future of 40G applications, one speaker from a prominent COTS board company discussed six different approaches to achieving the capacity and throughput needed to make 40G a reality. Most of the six approaches included adding multiple multi-core parts, FPGAs, and network processor cards to existing systems. Basically, whichever way you slice it, more hardware would be needed to address the problem. This is not what the industry wants or needs. At a time when cost is a key competitive factor, companies need to find more efficient ways to solve tough problems. Software that leverages the best of what multi-core technologies have to offer is the answer and the future of ATCA systems.

Wind River Network Acceleration Platform accomplishes many things in a single embedded software environment. The platform leverages an asymmetrical multiprocessing approach to consolidate control and data planes in one system while also achieving maximum processing and packet throughput performance. This unique approach delivers multiple gigabit wire-speed performance for telecommunications network infrastructure equipment. The platform has been optimized for the leading multi-core processors and has achieved an unmatched packet throughput performance of 10.5 million packets per second per core.

Let’s break it down:

1. CAPEX/OPEX savings through consolidation: Control and data plane in on system
2. Performance: 10.5 million packets per second per core
3. Scalability: Linear performance scalability as more cores are added
4. Value-add: Layer 2–7 packet intelligence capability for DPI, traffic mapping, service differentiation
5. Support:  The best of the industry’s leading software from one supplier

One of the best lines I heard yesterday at the ATCA Summit was by a presenter quoting Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” As hardware companies continue with faster horses , software is emerging as a revolutionary game changer in the way network equipment is being built. Kudos to the Wind River product management and engineering teams for making the extra effort to innovate beyond merely what was asked for by the customer.

The Two Ends of the Developer Spectrum: Cool Apps and the Network

I just spent the day at the Intel Developer Forum, where I listened in on Renee James’ keynote address on the Intel user experience. The presentation covered many topics, but the two of most interest were Intel’s AppUp program and Wind River Network Acceleration Platform. At first glance, these two topics seem at opposite ends of the developer community, but they are actually very closely connected.  

On one side of the developer community is the AppUp program. AppUp is designed to enable the development of applications for mobile and other intelligent connected devices. These applications come in many shapes and forms: social media, video, gaming, and financial transactions, to name a few. They are all being developed to run on the Intel Atom processor. Many of the applications are being designed to leverage wireline and wireless broadband to the networks.

Now enter the other side of the Intel developer community: applications for the network infrastructure. All those bandwidth-intensive applications being developed through the AppUp program need the network to deliver their content reliably, securely, and at lightning speed. This is where AppUp meets Wind River Network Acceleration Platform.

On the main stage today, Ms. James highlighted a major breakthrough in packet processing performance. Utilizing a new packet processing paradigm, Wind River Network Acceleration Platform, running on Intel Xeon processors, can deliver 10.5 million packets per second per core. Even better, this unmatched packet acceleration solution scales linearly across all cores. This means ultrafast performance to deliver all that content developed by the AppUp applications.   

Check out this animation from today’s presentation.

Coming full circle, the main stage presentation on the Intel user experience shined a spotlight on two opposite ends of the developer community: end user application development and the network applications that will deliver the ultimate connected user experience.