Netronome and Dell EMC tag team NFV server solution
Cloud computing company Netronome is teaming up with Dell EMC to provide a turnkey network functions virtualization (NFV) server solution, which can reportedly accelerate NFV infrastructure and applications by as much as 600%. As part of the deal, Netronome is making its Agilio 25GbE SmartNICs and software available through Dell EMC OEM Solutions.
NFV is an initiative in the telecom industry that involves decoupling software from hardware. Among the key benefits of NFV include the ability to spin up customizable services automatically, while reducing capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenses (OPEX). According to an IHS Markit report, the global NFV market is expected to be worth $15 billion by 2020.
“The packet processing and application workload real-time compute demand on servers for Telco NFV are very high, requiring servers specifically architected to meet these performance requirements while keeping CAPEX costs low,” said Cliff Grossner, senior research director and advisor of cloud and data center research practice for IHS Markit.”
Netronome reports the NFV Platform reduces CAPEX by improving server efficiency by up to 20 times over traditional common-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. The platform is based on Dell EMC PowerEdge R630 servers and includes an Agilio 2x25GbE SmartNIC feature, which incorporates 60 to 120 network processing cores to offload network and security processing from servers. Additionally, the solution is upgradeable with Agilio OVS and vRouter software packages.
“Dell EMC servers and Netronome SmartNIC technology make this solution a win-win for service providers and enterprises deploying NFV applications,” said Sujal Das, chief strategy and marketing officer at Netronome. “We are excited about this collaboration and the prospects for expanding Netronome’s leadership in the SmartNIC market.”
The Agilio 25GbE SmartNIC platform can also offload virtual switch and router datapath processing for networking functions, including overlays, security, load balancing and telemetry. This allows compute servers used for server-based networking and cloud computing to reserve essential CPU cores for application processing.
“Netronome is a pioneer in network processing and the use of SmartNICs to offload servers for higher efficiency,” said Kevin Shatzkamer, vice president of service provider solutions at Dell. “With disaggregation in the traditional network software stack moving to servers running network functions, we believe Dell EMC and Netronome can play a major role.”
