Xilinx Introduces SDNet & ‘Softly’ Defined Networks | EE Times
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It’s not often that you see something that makes you think “this is a game changer.” The introduction of logic synthesis circa 1990 was one such event; today’s introduction of SDNet from Xilinx may well be another.
Cisco has used different RISC chips over the years as its network processors. Both in it’s network closet switches and the core router chassis. First generation was based on the venerable MIPS processor, then subsequently they migrated to PowerPC, both for power reduced processing but also network optimized cpus. Cisco’s engineers would accommodate changes in function by releasing new version of the IOS. Or they would release new line cards for the big multi-slot router chassis. Between software and hardware releases they would cover the whole spectrum of wired, wireless, optical networking. It was a rich mix of what could be done.
Enter now the possibility of not just Software Defined Networking (kind of like using Virtual Machines instead of physical switches), but software defined firmware/hardware. FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) are the computing world’s reconfigurable processor. So instead of provisioning a fixed network processor, and virtualizing on top of that to gain the software defined network, what if you could work the problem from both ends? Reconfigure the software AND the network processor. That’s what Xilinx is proposing with this announcement of SDNet. The prime example given in this announcement is the line card that would slot into a a large router chassis (some Cisco gear comes with 13 slots). If you had just a bunch of ports, let’s say RJ-45 facing outward, what then happens on the inside via the software/hardware reconfigurability would astound you. You want Fibre Channel over Ethernet? You want 10Gbit? You want SIP traffic only? You don’t buy a line card per application because it’s set in stone what the function is. You tell the SDNet compiler these are the inputs, these are the outputs, please optimize the functions and reconfigure the firmware as needed.
Once programmed, that line card does what you tell it to do. It can inspect packets, it could act as a firewall, it could prioritize traffic, shape bandwidth or just simple route things as fast as it could possibly go. Doesn’t matter what signals are running over what pins, as long as it knows it’s RJ-45 connectors, it will do the rest. Amazing when you think about it that way.
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