Networking

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. 

When it comes to multi-core, it takes a village

By Jessica Schieve

Telecom and Network equipment providers are facing huge challenges to build and deploy products that can meet the growing performance and capacity demands while also delivering the service levels customers have come to expect.  In the rapidly evolving wireless and wireline broadband markets, multi-core technologies have become a tremendous force that is impacting the entire value chain of industry suppliers (the village) and how it is responds to meet these challenges.

Wind River and LSI’s village just got bigger, stronger, and smarter.  Today, Wind River and LSI announced a long-term strategic collaboration to optimize and tightly integrate their multi-core hardware and software portfolios.  LSI’s Axxia Communication Processors will be integrated with Wind River’s industry leading Linux and VxWorks platforms and development tools. Now, equipment providers can leverage this collaboration effort as a powerful advantage to build faster, more intelligent, and highly competitive network products.

When it comes to multi-core, the true power and value is realized when the village works together to deliver scalable solutions that solve tough problems. 
Watch this video of Wind River and LSI executives discussing multi-core technologies and the importance of collaboration. 

Do you have a tough network challenge you need to solve?  Check out the strength of Wind River's partner village.

My Top 8+ Tweets From The 2010 Embedded Systems Conference

By Jessica Schieve

I just spent the last four days in San Jose at the 2010 Embedded Systems Conference.  If you are in the embedded industry this is a one-stop event to find information, products, and assistance to help with your next project.  I attended sessions, walked the show floor, talked to vendors about new products, met with partners, and discussed emerging trends with Editors.  I was so busy I actually didn’t have time to tweet about all the great things I saw.  Instead, I’ve compiled a list of the top 8+ tweets I intended to send but I just couldn't condense my thoughts down to 140 characters.

1. Wow – I actually saw lines to get into some of the sessions.  The economy must be getting better because the Embedded Systems Conference had a good turnout from both exhibitors and attendees.  I met with one of the show organizers who told me paid attendance was up 30%.   New and existing projects are on the move and people are looking for embedded technologies to help get their products to market.  Social media was heavily used by the event promoters to get the word out.
2. Multi-core is a hot topic.  There were several specific multi-core events that drew big crowds.  Wind River was involved in three multi-core specific events on day one.  All three events generated a lot of interest.
   
   • First, Wind River hosted an executive luncheon and multi-core panel featuring the six leading semiconductor companies: Cavium, Freescale, Intel, LSI, NetLogic, and Texas Instruments.
     These guys went head-to-head discussing why their approach is best.  One clear message from all the panelists was that optimized software and tools play a major role in realizing the full potential of multi-core processors.  Too bad we ran out of time because the audience was fired up with questions.
   • The luncheon was followed by a keynote from Wind River’s CTO, Tomas Evensen.  Tomas’ presentation - Surviving the Software Avalanche: Simplifying Multi-core – Everyone from the luncheon must have followed Tomas over to the Hilton because this session attracted a lot of people wanting to learn more about emerging embedded software and tools.
   • During the afternoon Wind River’s multi-core expert, Mark Hermeling, conducted a four hour working session on Multi-core Demystified.  This interactive session was packed.  The audience was very curious about the different elements to multi-core development.  Many questions were asked and answered.  What’s amazing is that the majority of the audience stayed the entire four hours.
3. Integrated solutions are in demand.  Piecing things together is NOT what the industry wants to do anymore.  The introduction of multi-core has made development of embedded systems much more complex.  On the first day of the show Wind River announced a new integrated multi-core runtime platform, the Network Acceleration Platform . The platform offers all the software components needed to develop a network element that delivers ultra-fast packet forwarding capabilities.    I had a number of people comment that this was exactly what the industry needs.
4. System simulation is generating a lot of interest.  A few weeks ago Wind River added the Virtutech Simics product to its portfolio.  Multiple hardware vendors stopped by the booth to get a hands on demo.  At times the audience was three groups deep.  As embedded systems get more complex, more and more designs will be done in a simulated or virtual environment.  Imagine the flexibility and added freedom to design the next generation applications without being tethered to physical hardware.
   
5. Ecosystem alliances are on the move – a number or companies announced new ecosystem alliances.  Freescale jumped out of the gate by announcing a new strategic alliance that expands software solutions on their processors.  They were followed by NetLogic’s announcement of Ensemble, an alliance to drive multi-core innovations around their processors.  These alliances tie directly to the above point that integrated solutions are what customers are asking for.
6. Xilinx is on a roll.  They started by winning top honors in the annual EDN Innovation Awards. Then they then unveiled a new ARM-based processing architecture that offers high-performance processing horsepower at lower cost and power targeting multiple market segments.  I talked to some of the Xilinx folks about there new project and left thinking – wow - these guys are on to something! 
7. Me Too Android!  Android is attracting a lot of interest.  Wind River hosted a webinar last week that attracted over a 1000 people. No wonder some embedded software vendors are just now jumping in with “me too” solutions.  Although not heavily pushed at this year’s ESC, there were a few companies attempting to put a stake in the ground with Android integration services.
8. Express Logic Monkeys are still the best giveaways.  It’s amazing.  Every year Express Logic gives away stuffed monkeys to anyone and everyone who sits through their presentations.  It blows me away that so many people, year after year, make getting one a priority. On the other hand, maybe Express Logic is on to something.  They announced over 750 million ThreadX deployments.  They are obviously doing something right.  

These 8+ non-tweets are just a few takeaways from the conference.  Did you make it to this year’s event?  Did you at least follow it online? What were your highlights?

Battling the Bottleneck

By Mark Guinther

I have crossed to the other side of the generation gap.  While growing up in Michigan, I remember my parents telling me about their primitive childhood experiences: walking 4 miles through the snow each way to school, uphill both ways, no TV, no microwave oven, only one family car…  Now my own kids stare in disbelief when I tell them that I grew up in a home with only one phone attached to a wall, no worldwide web, no laptop, and no cell phones with text messaging. They visualize me as a caveman back in the Stone Age.

Clearly, technology has changed quite a bit within my lifetime. Personal connectivity has become ubiquitous, and despite the occasional temptation to toss our smartphones into the nearest river, we are better off for it.  But our ever-increasing connectivity requirements and the constant flood of new devices have brought with them a demand for higher bandwidth network connections and more of them. We don’t get to see the networking equipment that processes our requests and delivers our content, but we know when it doesn’t seem to work fast enough.  Those are the times we grumble about our network service, or device, or both.  For service providers, unhappy customers lead to increased churn and less revenue.  Service providers are furiously trying to deliver not only the best end-user devices, but also an infrastructure that will accommodate the increasing traffic load.  This is where multi-core processing plays such a critical role. Conventional system designs cannot keep pace with the bandwidth explosion being driven by mobile devices, social networking, communications and web traffic. Networking equipment designed on multi-core processors offers the increased performance capability, lower space, weight and power requirements, and scalable designs that service providers need to win customers and reduce churn.  Today at ESC Silicon Valley, Wind River announced a new Wind River Network Acceleration Platform that is designed to help equipment providers battle the bottleneck by delivering ultra-fast IP packet forwarding performance.

Multi-core processing is a disruptive technology, and the potential benefits definitely make it worthwhile to explore. Check out this Multi-core Network Acceleration whitepaper for a more detailed discussion on the technology. For years, Wind River has made investments in multi-core, from technology innovations to partnering with key industry leaders. The Network Acceleration Platform is just the first of Wind River’s multi-core acceleration solutions. As industries continue to adopt multi-core technology, it will become increasingly critical to work with experts who have the ability to maneuver the complexities and maximize the potential of multi-core processing.

Mark Guinther is Product Line Manager for Networking at Wind River. He has over twenty years of experience in the data/ voice/wireless networking industry including management positions at Alcatel and FORE Systems. He has a background in a broad range of technologies including IP routing, xDSL, network security, ATM, IPv6, VoIP, wireless, and next generation networks. Mark has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from UC Berkeley and an MBA. Mark can be reached at mark.guinther@windriver.com.

VxWorks helping to bring LTE Down Under

By Bill Graham

Our customer, Huawei, recently announced they have been chosen to deploy Australia's first LTE network. This is great news because Huawei's LTE base stations are built using VxWorks - the VxWorks Platform for Networking Equipment to be exact. It's also great news because we are starting to see the fruits of our customers' efforts come to reality and it stands as a validation of our investment in next generation networks. Moreover, this is the latest in a set of successes we've had with VxWorks in the networking space.

In particular the technology investments we've made such as mobile IP, multicore and packet processing offload acceleration. What is also encouraging is that Huawei is standardizing on our solutions across product lines sich as core network, GSM, optical and access products. In fact, we did a nice customer success story on this recently.

So, what role does Wind River play in the next generation of LTE devices? Our multicore and virtualization technology is allowing network manufacturers to leverage the new horsepower available from 4,8, 16 and even 32 core processors. Our advanced networking technology (ANT) provides support for offload acceleration such as packet forwarding, deep packet inspection and encryption. Our mobile IP support is providing off-the-shelf protocol support needed for LTE and WiMAX networks. Along with our tools and services, we are providing a powerful platform that networking infrastructure companies need to handle the huge data rates required for next generation networks.