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	<title>6WIND Blog</title>
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	<link>http://www.6windblog.com</link>
	<description>solving the critical performance challenges for software-defined networks</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 12:01:34 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Don’t Forget the Data Plane Challenges as You Plan for NFV</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/dont-forget-the-data-plane-challenges-as-you-plan-for-nfv/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=dont-forget-the-data-plane-challenges-as-you-plan-for-nfv</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/dont-forget-the-data-plane-challenges-as-you-plan-for-nfv/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 12:01:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Charlie Ashton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data Center Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software Defined Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=3043</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Between two and three hundred people attended the ETSI Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) meeting in Santa Clara last month. As expected, there was a strong turnout from the telecom service providers who started the NFV initiative in late 2012, while many other companies were also represented such as network equipment manufacturers, system integrators, software companies and processor suppliers. The overall impression was that key service providers are strongly committed to NFV, with the potential of interesting new business opportunities for a range of other players in an ecosystem that will have to include providers of hardware, software and services. In terms of the business benefits of NFV, most of the discussion to date appears to be around the CAPEX and OPEX savings that can be achieved through the virtualization of functions that have traditionally been implemented as stand-alone, dedicated, fixed-function equipment. One use case that’s frequently discussed is a “virtual CPE”, with an architecture that relies on a very simple CPE (modem, switch and antenna) with all services relocated to virtual network appliances on a central server. Another example is the cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) concept, in which the eNodeB at the antenna is replaced by a low-cost Remote Radio Head, with digitized RF data backhauled over fiber to a centralized Baseband Unit pool in which the baseband processing is performed. Finally, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) functions for mobile networks can be run in Virtual Machines (VMs) on generic server platforms. Each of these scenarios promises to reduce both CAPEX and OPEX for service providers, though there’s still healthy debate as to whether a simple substitution of virtualized functions for dedicated equipment really reduces costs enough, once new operational expenses are factored in. I was surprised not to hear more at the ESTI meeting about how NFV can enable new services, especially cloud-based applications, which would deliver real value to subscribers. These would seem to be the key to increasing Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and driving top-line growth in the P&#38;L, rather than just reducing expenses through virtualization. On reflection, though, carriers probably view new services and applications as their proprietary secret sauce and not the kind of topic that they want to talk about in a room full of their competitors. At this point in the evolution of NFV, the working groups and “expert groups” are mainly focused on topics relating to network management and orchestration topics. This makes perfect sense given the extreme complexity of legacy telecom networks and challenges of migrating these control-related systems to a completely new software-based architecture. And, of course, the concept of “Carrier Grade reliability” reflects expectations that we all have, as subscribers with the freedom to switch providers as soon as our contracts are up. Before too long, though, we’ll need to talk about a fundamental data plane issue that must be addressed in order for any NFV implementation to be cost-effective. Packet processing is a key function that dominates the processing workload for many telecom network subsystems. These include [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Looking Forward To Interop</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/looking-forward-to-interop/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=looking-forward-to-interop</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/looking-forward-to-interop/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Charlie Ashton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software Defined Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NFV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SDN]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=3025</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Charlie Ashton, VP of Marketing and Business Development at 6WIND For me, the last two weeks have been like a total immersion class on Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Last week, 6WIND exhibited at the Open Networking Summit (ONS), held in Santa Clara, where I also attended as many sessions as possible. Earlier this week, I attended the second ETSI ISG meeting on NFV, also in Santa Clara. ONS 2013 was a deep dive into the current status of SDN from both engineering and marketing perspectives. While last year’s ONS was mostly about OpenFlow, the 2013 program was oriented more toward applications and SDN use cases. In line with this application focus, the biggest buzz this year was about Open Daylight, an open source framework to accelerate the development of SDN technologies and products. This shows just how rapidly SDN is evolving. Another very visible focus of the ONS conference was on Network Functions Virtualization.  Attendees agreed that the impact of NFV on network OPEX is potentially the largest feasible contributor to increased network efficiency and cost reduction. On the second day of the conference, Rose Schooler (VP, Intel Architecture Group and GM, Communications and Storage Infrastructure Group) said we are at a ‘new inflection point’ in the network infrastructure markets and that SDN and NFV mean “saving money, making money”. She highlighted the need for high-performance virtual switch solutions, which reinforced the value of the demonstration in our booth (details here). For many attendees, a highlight was the opening keynote address by the ‘father of the Internet,’ Vint Cerf (who was escorted into the hall by 007 in recognition of his recent award of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering). Now with Google, Cerf is a VP and chief internet evangelist who believes that open standards-based interoperability will lead to the building of networks that are more stable and resilient. Cerf said that he was excited about what SDN offers to improve the internet, mentioning ideas such as OpenFlow and content-based routing. He also mentioned that all Google data center networks are now OpenFlow enabled. Now to this week’s ETSI meeting. ETSI approved the creation of the new NFV ISG in November of last year and the group now has representation from 13 leading operators and over 50 additional telecom and networking companies. This week’s meeting reviewed the significant progress on NFV specifications and highlighted a number of important issues to be addressed by the various working groups. Not surprisingly, SDN and NFV are also featured at the Interop 2013 Conference and Exhibition to be held in two weeks (May 6-10) in Las Vegas. Initially a network infrastructure event, Interop has expanded its focus to include Cloud, Virtualization, Data Centers, Wireless &#38; Mobility and Information Security. This year’s program is loaded with sessions for those interested in SDN and NFV. On Tuesday there is a day-long workshop “What is Software Defined Networking and What Impact Will It Have On Your Network?” by Jim Metzler of [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>6WIND Announces dpdk.org Open-Source Project</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/6wind-announces-dpdk-org-open-source-project/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=6wind-announces-dpdk-org-open-source-project</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/6wind-announces-dpdk-org-open-source-project/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:47:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data Center Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DPDK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Appliances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software Defined Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[6WINDGate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dpdk.org]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=2999</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Eric Carmes &#8211; 6WIND Founder and CEO In a recent post, I summarized a number of announcements that 6WIND recently made involving key industry partners. I also announced that 6WIND will lead other major industry initiatives to bring compelling solutions for the industry to accelerate networking and telecom transformation. 6WIND is proud to announce the establishment of the dpdk.org open-source project to accelerate development of Intel® Data Plane Development Kit (Intel® DPDK) architecture-based networking and telecoms products. In telecom, enterprise and cloud applications, the Intel® DPDK, which is a set of optimized libraries and drivers provided to OEMs under a BSD licensing model, is an increasingly viable foundation for packet processing. However, the development of a complete networking and telecom application requires strong expertise. As a major contributor to the Intel® DPDK, 6WIND has developed valuable enhancements to the software including crypto support via AES-NI, virtualization support, Mellanox 40GbE ConnectX®-3 EN series and Cavium Nitrox® support. 6WIND also developed strong expertise in leveraging the Intel® DPDK as a result of optimizing its 6WINDGate™ data plane solution (comprising virtual switch acceleration, IP forwarding, virtual routing, IPsec, firewall, Large Scale NAT, TCP termination etc.) to run at maximum performance on the Intel® DPDK platform. 6WIND also provides professional services and technical support to developers. As a result, 6WIND enables use of Intel® DPDK in Virtual Network Appliances, Software-Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization. At dpdk.org, engineers can find libraries, drivers, documentation, development mailing list, git repository and support relevant to high-performance packet processing using the Intel® DPDK software. The dpdk.org open-source project is active now and openly available to any developers using the Intel® DPDK. It will provide an openly-accessible repository for released versions, while encouraging innovative collaboration and enabling participating companies to offer specialized support.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/6wind-announces-dpdk-org-open-source-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Virtual Switch Acceleration Boosts VM Density in Data Centers</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/virtual-switch-acceleration-boosts-vm-density-in-data-centers/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=virtual-switch-acceleration-boosts-vm-density-in-data-centers</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/virtual-switch-acceleration-boosts-vm-density-in-data-centers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:43:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Charlie Ashton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data Center Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[packet processing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtualization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=2981</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Charlie Ashton, VP of Marketing and Business Development at 6WIND This week, 6WIND announced extensions to the 6WINDGate™ networking software that deliver a 10x performance improvement for virtual switches. These new capabilities address three critical scalability challenges faced by service providers operating public/private cloud data centers as well as telecom infrastructure architected around Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) concepts. The first scalability challenge relates to the number of Virtual Machines (VMs) per server blade. This VM density is increasing rapidly, leveraging on-going improvements in the performance of the x86 processors used on those blades. Today, a typical server blade in a service provider data center hosts at least 50 VMs, with that number expected to grow to hundreds within a few years. Because of this growth in the number of VMs running on each server blade, the data center network needs to expand beyond its current limit at the Top-of-Rack (ToR), to a model where a virtual switch on each server blade is used to distribute the increasing volume of network traffic to virtualized applications. This function is typically implemented using the open-source Open vSwitch (OVS) or an equivalent proprietary virtual switch. The second scalability challenge is the network bandwidth required by VMs. With the constant growth in rich media applications, individual VMs can require sustained network bandwidth of 1Gbps or more. As VM density increases, this bandwidth requirement can quickly outstrip the capacity of a standard virtual switch, constraining either the number of VMs that can be instantiated on a blade or the performance seen by the users of those VMs. The final major challenge is a result of evolving traffic patterns within data centers. In traditional client-server data centers, network traffic was predominantly “North-South”: from the Internet, through the core switch and aggregation layer, to the ToR switch and then to the server blades. Within multi-tenant Web 2.0 data centers, however, VM mobility and VM sprawl cause the majority of traffic to be “East-West”: between VMs located on different physical server blades. This growth in East-West traffic means that high-bandwidth VM-to-VM communication (VM2VM) is mandatory. To isolate and secure VM2VM, however, requires secure tunneling services, running on the virtual switch, that extend beyond the basic Layer 2 features provided by a typical virtual switch. Within a cloud, these ensure that only specific VMs can access the applications and data owned by other VMs. Between clouds, policies are enforced to ensure that data and traffic for one cloud is not visible to another. Adding to the overall security- and networking-related workload that must now be supported on server blades is the increasing trend towards the use of overlay network technologies which avoid the 4,094 tunnels limitation of traditional VLANs. Data centers are now adopting VXLAN and NVGRE protocols, with 16-bit IDs that allow for 16 million tunnels. The new extensions to the 6WINDGate networking software provide solutions to these three challenges, delivering a data plane solution that achieves 5x &#8211; 10x acceleration for the baseline Layer 2 switching function. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/virtual-switch-acceleration-boosts-vm-density-in-data-centers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Accelerating the Transformation of Telecom and Networking</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/accelerating-the-transformation-of-telecom-and-networking/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=accelerating-the-transformation-of-telecom-and-networking</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/accelerating-the-transformation-of-telecom-and-networking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:51:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Forum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[6WINDGate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mellanox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Red Hat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SPECTRUM]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=2959</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Eric Carmes &#8211; 6WIND Founder and CEO 6WIND recently made a number of announcements involving key industry partners, including: 6WIND’s participation in the Intel-HP SPECTRUM program, a community of hardware and software developers that focus on solutions to challenges in the telecommunications market segment; 6WIND provides an integrated networking solution based on 6WINDGate™ for powerful HP ProLiant servers utilizing Intel® Xeon® processors. Integration of 6WINDGate software with Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®; both companies have been working together to streamline the integration between 6WINDGate and Red Hat RHEL. This integration enables equipment manufacturers to accelerate the development time for networking equipment that delivers critical CAPEX and OPEX improvements for service providers. The availability of an optimized solution comprising the Mellanox ConnectX-3 Network Interface Controller together with the 6WINDGate networking software. Combined with Mellanox’s SwitchX 40GbE switch, software, and cables, the complete solution enables telecom equipment manufacturers and operators to accelerate the deployment of virtualized and non-virtualized networks on standard high-volume servers. The transformation of telecom and networking enabled by SDN (Software-Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) is often compared to the server virtualization and cloud revolution that happened a few years ago. There is however a major difference. Standard applications “only” need processing capabilities, memory and storage to run efficiently in a virtualized environment. Designing cloud-based network architecture and virtualized networking functions also require high speed and secured I/Os. I believe the combination of high performance generic hardware platforms based on the latest generation of multi-core processors, leading open source software platforms, 40Gb Ethernet solutions and the 6WINDGate data plane software is a great foundation for addressing the transformation of telecom and networking. 6WIND is committed to being a key player in the ecosystem that brings compelling solutions for the industry to accelerate network virtualization. We will lead other major industry initiatives and announce breakthrough products soon. Stay tuned…]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/accelerating-the-transformation-of-telecom-and-networking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NFV: A Hot Topic at Mobile World Congress 2013</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/nfv-a-hot-topic-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nfv-a-hot-topic-at-mobile-world-congress-2013</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/nfv-a-hot-topic-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:09:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MWC 2013]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Function Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NFV]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=2946</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Eric Carmes &#8211; 6WIND Founder and CEO NFV (Network Function Virtualization) was obviously one of the hottest topics at MWC 2013. Several use cases were demoed by tier-1 platform vendors, telecom equipment manufacturers, service providers and operators to show the benefits of the NFV concept. These use cases can be classified into two categories. The first one is the migration of functions traditionally located in at the customer premises into the operator’s infrastructure. One example is the concept of a “virtual CPE” that can be applied either to consumer or enterprise markets. The new architecture relies on a very simple CPE (modem, switch and antenna) and all services run on a central server in a virtual network appliance. CAPEX is considerably reduced. Software updates, service configuration, introduction of new services, maintenance are also greatly simplified, so service providers and operators can significantly reduce their OPEX as well. The cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) concept similarly reduces both CAPEX and OPEX for mobile networks. In the conventional network architecture, each antenna connects to a co-located eNodeB from which traffic is backhauled to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) over an IP link. With the Cloud RAN approach, however, the eNodeB at the antenna is replaced by a low-cost Remote Radio Head. The digitized RF data is then connected over a fiber link to a centralized Baseband Unit pool in which the baseband processing is performed. A second category of use cases addresses core network functions. In contrast to the first one, the equipment is already located in the core infrastructure. For instance, virtualizing EPC functions for mobile networks in virtual machines on generic platforms instead of dedicated equipment reduces the CAPEX. Dynamic allocation and management of network resources bring more flexibility and better usage of network resources, thereby reducing OPEX and increasing ARPU. Will NFV be the real first transformation of the network and telecom business? These different uses cases seem to be very attractive for operators, enabling them to increase their margins and deploy differentiating services faster. To make this happen, end users will also need to see real reductions in their Internet expenses. However, all the concepts have to come back to reality. Virtualizing hundreds of CPE or complex EPC functions on a single server requires high performance network bandwidth to be distributed to the virtualized functions. Today, standard virtualized architectures that work perfectly well for computing won’t be able to deliver the required network performance without optimized solutions like our 6WINDGate™ software. Please check how many software layers a network packet has to go through before reaching an application running in a virtual machine.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/nfv-a-hot-topic-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Welcome to the new 6WIND blog</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/welcome-to-the-new-6wind-blog/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=welcome-to-the-new-6wind-blog</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/welcome-to-the-new-6wind-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Charlie Ashton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Software Defined Networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.6windblog.com/?p=2922</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Charlie Ashton, VP of Marketing &#8211; 6WIND Welcome to the new 6WIND Blog! Just in time for Mobile World Congress and RSA Conference, we are launching www.6windblog.com as a replacement for the Multicore Packet Processing Forum. As 6WIND’s business has evolved over the past few years, we have recognized that the value we bring to our customers is much more than just the support of multicore architectures, though that remains an integral part of our solution. Our customers see optimized support as just one element of a comprehensive solution that also includes: high-performance networking software, a rich suite of optimized protocols, seamless scalability across distributed networking subsystems, architecture flexibility, solutions for networking bottlenecks in virtualized systems, Carrier Grade reliability applied to enterprise and cloud data centers. At 6WIND, we’re focused on enabling the large scale deployment of high-performance, infrastructure networks required for fast-growing markets, such as 4G/LTE and cloud computing. In applications based on Software Defined Networking (SDN), technology is evolving exponentially. New standards are constantly emerging and the ecosystem of contributing companies is also quickly expanding. www.6windblog.com is for the discussion of ideas, information and trends relevant to SDN applications; particularly where high performance networking is critical. 6WIND Blog is moderated by 6WIND and we welcome contributions from everyone in the industry. Meanwhile, our experts are off to both Mobile World Congress (booth #7A87) and RSA Conference (booth #854). We hope to see you there!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/welcome-to-the-new-6wind-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Data Center Security Challenges Require Advanced Networking Functions on Server Blades</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/data-center-security-challenges-require-advanced-networking-functions-on-server-blades/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=data-center-security-challenges-require-advanced-networking-functions-on-server-blades</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/data-center-security-challenges-require-advanced-networking-functions-on-server-blades/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:08:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data Center Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Appliances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RSA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual switch]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.multicorepacketprocessing.com/?p=2725</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Charlie Ashton, VP of Marketing &#8211; 6WIND Within both public and private cloud data centers, the number of Virtual Machines per server blade is increasing rapidly, leveraging on-going improvements in the performance of the x86 processors used on those blades. Today, a typical server blade in a service provider data center hosts at least 50 VMs, with that number expected to grow to hundreds within a few years. Because of this growth in the number of VMs running on each server blade, the data center network needs to expand beyond its current limit at the Top-of-Rack, to a model where a virtual switch on each server blade is used to distribute the increasing volume of network traffic to virtualized applications. This function is typically implemented using the open-source Open vSwitch (OVS) or an equivalent proprietary virtual switch. For multi-tenant data centers, high-bandwidth VM-to-VM communication (VM2VM) is mandatory. To isolate and secure VM2VM, however, requires extensive routing, firewalling and load balancing services that extend beyond the basic Layer 2 features provided by a typical virtual switch. Also, multi-tenant architectures require traffic engineering (ACL, tunneling, QoS etc.) to be performed at the server edge in order to provide users with individual, differentiated services. Advanced security policies are necessary to secure both physical and virtual traffic. Within a cloud, these ensure that only certain VMs can access the applications and data owned by other VMs. Between clouds, policies are enforced to ensure that data and traffic for one cloud is not visible to another. Adding to the overall security- and networking-related workload that must now be supported on server blades is the increasing trend towards the use of overlay network technologies which avoid the 4,094 tunnels limitation of traditional VLANs. Data centers are now adopting VXLAN and NVGRE protocols, with 16-bit IDs that allow for 16 million tunnels. From the point of view of the data center operator, it is critical that the solutions they select to achieve the virtual switch enhancements described above are fully-compatible with emerging options for data center orchestration such as OpenStack and for Layer-2/-3 management such as OpenFlow. In addition, Carrier Grade reliability is mandatory for enterprise-class data centers. At 6WIND, we recognized these security-driven virtual switch challenges and enhanced the 6WINDGate™ software, already widely deployed in network appliances, to deliver performance improvements and advanced networking features for virtual switches (details here). We’ll be discussing our solutions in our booth number 854 at RSA Conference, hope to see you there!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.6windblog.com/data-center-security-challenges-require-advanced-networking-functions-on-server-blades/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>6WIND Provides Valuable Enhancements for the Intel® DPDK</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/6wind-provides-valuable-enhancements-for-the-intel-dpdk/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=6wind-provides-valuable-enhancements-for-the-intel-dpdk</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/6wind-provides-valuable-enhancements-for-the-intel-dpdk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:44:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DPDK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[6WINDGate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.multicorepacketprocessing.com/?p=2712</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Eric Carmes &#8211; 6WIND Founder and CEO A few years ago, Intel released its Data Plane Development Kit (Intel® DPDK) software. The DPDK library is provided to OEMs under a BSD licensing model, enabling the design of high performance networking software based on either pipelined or run-to-completion architectures. It runs in Linux userspace, providing optimizations for Intel® architecture platforms such as data plane libraries, optimized NIC drivers (queue and buffer management, packet flow, classification, poll-mode NIC drivers along with a simple API Interface and standard tool chain) and run-time environment (low overhead, run-to-completion model optimized for fastest possible data plane performance). DPDK is a key environment for enabling the use of Intel architecture platforms in data plane applications. DPDK, however, is a complex technology and in-depth networking software expertise is required to use it efficiently. Since 2007, 6WIND has been working with Intel to optimize its 6WINDGate™ networking software suite for Intel embedded processors and to provide the most advanced and comprehensive suite of pre-integrated data plane and control plane protocols on top of DPDK, including high availability capabilities. As a member of the Intel Intelligent Systems Alliance, 6WIND provides support either for the stand-alone Intel DPDK or for DPDK integrated with 6WINDGate. Therefore, customers can benefit not only from 6WIND’s full support of DPDK but, more importantly, from the in-depth system expertise 6WIND developed through designing high performance networking software. You can download the Intel – 6WIND white paper “Optimized Data Plane Processing Solutions using the Intel® DPDK” from our Web site for more information about 6WINDGate for Intel architectures. In addition to functions and NIC drivers provided with the standard DPDK distribution, 6WIND also provides valuable add-ons to DPDK for increased system functionality and performance. These include: Support for non-Intel NICs such as the Mellanox ConnectX®-3 EN series, Crypto support via both Intel® Multi-Buffer Crypto software and Cave Creek hardware, DPDK drivers for external crypto engines such as Cavium’s Nitrox®, Drivers for enabling DPDK in virtualized environments such as VMware VMWNET3 and KVM-XEN VIRTIO. Providing these add-ons is very important because network software developers are accustomed to having all the required drivers available in a Linux environment and they expect to use them in the DPDK environment as well. It’s likely one of the most important limitations that I hear about from engineering teams using DPDK. 6WIND provides these add-ons as part of the private DPDK branch maintained by 6WIND and fully synchronized with Intel&#8217;s on-going releases of the baseline library. We encourage you to check our roadmap for future add-ons and we would be very pleased to learn about your DPDK requirements so that we can better adapt our plans to meet them.]]></description>
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		<title>LTE Core Network Virtualization is Key to Improving OPEX for Service Providers</title>
		<link>http://www.6windblog.com/lte-core-network-virtualization-is-key-to-improving-opex-for-service-providers/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=lte-core-network-virtualization-is-key-to-improving-opex-for-service-providers</link>
		<comments>http://www.6windblog.com/lte-core-network-virtualization-is-key-to-improving-opex-for-service-providers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Carmes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[LTE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Functions Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Core network virtualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network virtu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.multicorepacketprocessing.com/?p=2696</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Charlie Ashton, VP of Marketing &#8211; 6WIND In 2012, service providers worldwide continued their aggressive rollout of LTE networks, with 105 operators in 48 countries having launched LTE commercially by the end of October. In total, over 350 network operators have invested or soon will invest in LTE. Overall, LTE is on a faster growth trajectory than any other mobile technology, projected to reach a billion connections in just over seven years (in 2017), whereas GSM took GSM twelve years to reach that milestone. Driven by the number of subscribers and the exponential increase in video traffic, overall mobile data traffic is projected to grow 500x between 2010 and 2019, so the 25x performance increase provided by LTE compared to 3G is critical to meeting end users’ expectations. In parallel with the growth in network deployments, however, cut-throat price competition among carriers has resulted in steadily declining ARPU (Average Revenue per User), despite on-going advances in the features and services being delivered to subscribers. This places extreme pressure on service providers both to improve the cost-performance of their networks and also to maximize their resource utilization. Core network virtualization, which leverages concepts proven in cloud computing, has emerged as a key approach to maximizing network resource utilization and thereby minimizing network OPEX. In a virtualized core network, functions that were traditionally implemented in dedicated, stand-alone equipment are now instantiated as virtualized software running on generic hardware platforms. This enables service providers to achieve greater hardware efficiency and flexibility by dynamically allocating network resources to the most appropriate software applications. Network resources are allocated on-the-fly, according to traffic and service demands and with the capability to adapt easily to new traffic profiles as they arise. This provides high scalability and optimum hardware utilization. &#160; The LiquidCore initiative from Nokia-Siemens Networks is an interesting example of this concept. Core network virtualization provides important business-level benefits for service providers, including: Reduced CAPEX thanks to the use of standard generic hardware platforms; Reduced OPEX through improved resource utilization; Greater network flexibility to dynamically provide network resources where and when needed; Improved ARPU through the accelerated deployment of high-value features and services; Increased subscriber retention; Improved network monetization. The recently-announced Network Functions Virtualisation initiative was launched by leading service providers and Telecom Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs), with the goal of establishing industry-wide standards around key aspects of core network virtualization. Strong attendance at the group’s initial working meeting, held in France last week, indicates the high importance placed on this topic by companies at all levels of the supply chain. But there’s a problem. From the perspective of the hardware platforms used for core network virtualization, industry-standard software hypervisors severely constrain the performance of network I/O in virtualized environments, so that virtualized networking equipment delivers only a fraction of the networking performance achieved by physical equipment. This significantly limits the use of virtualization in network-intensive applications such as LTE infrastructure. Luckily, there’s a solution. At 6WIND, we recognized this hypervisor performance problem and enhanced the [...]]]></description>
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