Networking

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.  

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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. 

 

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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. 

A good user experience goes well beyond the cool device in your hand

By Jessica Schieve

As thousands of people converge on Mobile World Congress the hype will be on the latest and coolest devices that will connect to the next generation wireless broadband network.  People will be in awe of the newest “thin as paper” notebooks and the “do everything” smartphones.  Device Manufacturers and Service Providers will demonstrate killer video and data applications running every kind of mobile device your can imagine.  But to win the mindshare and pocketbook of the Consumer takes more than cool gadgets.  It requires delivering the best user experience possible.   And, the expectation is not only that these devices look cool and do cool things, but they will also do everything promised at breakneck speed. 

Far away from the device in your hand is the network that processes, routes, and delivers every call, chat, email, or packet of data you send.   The equipment in the network: access points, base stations, node controllers, gateways to name a few, can make or break the user experience.  The growing expectation of the network is that it will always be on, will always make your voice call, will deliver video uninterrupted, and will do it all without any delays.

As most of the visitors to Mobile World Congress give their attention to the awesome device eye candy, the real cool story are the announcements about the latest and greatest multicore hardware and software technologies being developed for to improve the performance of network equipment.  3G and 4G networks are quickly adopting multicore technologies to increase network packet processing performance and to enable better scalability to handle the increasing broadband demand and multimedia traffic.  Multicore technologies are rapidly becoming the standard foundation for the next generation of network equipment delivering greater performance and ultimately a better user experience. 

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, look for multicore announcements from all the leading hardware vendors: Cavium, Freescale, Intel, LSI, and NetLogic.  And be sure to check out the announcement Wind River made about its multicore virtualization support made earlier this week. If you are planning to use multicore technologies in your next network product, be sure to read the Multicore Checklist for Success.