6Wind support for ARM devices as well as traditional x86 and MIPS processors with their press-release (6WIND Announces Arm® Processor Support for High Performance Networking). This expands the reach of their 6WINDGate platform. It supports either ARM-based devices, or network cards that use ARM processors to off-load processing from the main processor. This announcement is for beta software, with generally available code expected in Q1 2018.
A broader range of hardware now enables the production of low cost internet gateways and routers. In addition, it allows the use of alternate NFV stacks in the telco Central Office location. And finally, it supports on network card processing of packets, reducing overall system CPU overhead. 6Wind is a founder member of the DPDK alliance. For virtualised environments they ensure packets processing with the least of CPU overhead.
“For over a decade, 6WIND software allows customers to build high performance networking products by giving a choice of the best architectures to fit their requirements, starting with MIPS, followed by x86 and now Arm. With 6WIND, customers can migrate and scale across architectures with the same software.” – Eric Carmès, CEO and Founder, 6WIND
Qualcomm have provided a quote, with a definite sign that this is a key part of their data centre ARM strategy.
“We continue to enable an open ecosystem with Qualcomm Centriq™ 2400 so customers can assemble best of breed solutions. By leveraging the 6WIND solution with the world’s first 10nm Arm-based server processor, network operators can consume an OPNFV infrastructure solution that accelerates network performance at all levels of switch, hypervisor, and virtual network functions. Enabling an efficient, highly threaded, high performance environment allows operators to continue to scale without compromising quality-of-service.” – Ram Peddibhotla, VP Product Management, Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, Inc.
Also Mellanox have provided a quote, with the indication that they expect the use of their cards in both x86 and future ARM data centre platforms.
“Our close partnership with 6WIND leverages DPDK and Mellanox ConnectX® advanced networking solutions to deliver best-in-class performance to customers migrating to 25 and 100Gbps network services. As we expand this cooperation into the Arm ecosystem, our joint customers can now benefit from even greater choices in designing networking products and leveraging intelligent network adapters with industry-leading Mellanox and 6WIND integration.” – Yael Shenhav, VP Product Marketing, Mellanox Technologies.
NXP provide ARM based platforms for IoT, as well as higher performance processors, so a performance IP stack for these devices is key.
“NXP is pleased to work with 6WIND to offer new options to service providers delivering cost-optimized, Arm-based virtual CPE solutions built around NXP’s Layerscape architecture. Innovative Layerscape processor-based solutions yield superior price/performance and through our collaboration with 6WIND, we deliver service-ready, commercial grade VNF offerings for virtual routing today.” – Noy Kucuk, VP Digital Networking, NXP.
