CNFs require high performance data and control planes – open source networking software underpins solution
As Telecommunications companies continue their journey of network transformation, network functions virtualization (NFV) based on white box cloud computing infrastructure has started to make way for cloud native network functions (CNFs) based on container infrastructure running on commodity hardware. However, the performance requirements of telecom networking can not be satisfied by the Linux kernel alone in container environments – data and control planes are crucial to the proper functioning of networking infrastructure such as routers and switches.
PANTHEON.tech tackled this problem with their open-source product, StoneWork, a high performance data plane and a modular control plane that is built with on top of open source software – Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK, a Linux Foundation project) and vector packet processing (VPP) by FD.io (a Linux Foundation Networking project) and Ligato, an open-source management agent – among other software, and provides an efficient framework for building, deploying, and managing CNF applications.
The benchmark test results published in the report showed that the FD.io VPP acceleration leveraged the capabilities of latest generation Intel processors to provide significant throughput improvements. It also showed that the additional functionality of StoneWork Enterprise did not come with a price of degraded throughput. PANTHEON.tech’s StoneWork Enterprise version also offers additional functionalities – including IPsec internet key exchange (IKE), BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, DHCP, IDS/IPS – that make StoneWork Enterprise a universal solution for edge, cloud, or on-premise deployments.
As networks carry ever more traffic and the networking technologies that enable that functionality increase in complexity, it is incumbent upon the open source community to work together to simplify the management and continued operation of those networks, and to increase their efficiency with easily deployed products required by telecommunications service providers and enterprises.
To read the full report published on Intel’s Network Builders site, please visit https://networkbuilders.intel.com/solutionslibrary/pantheon-tech-intel-deliver-fast-data-and-control-planes.
About PANTHEON.tech
Products, services and expertise. PANTHEON.tech stands for cutting-edge technologies, which interconnect the world – one project at a time. Our products are the backbone of data centers, networks and servers of your ISP, telecommunications provider and service providers around the world. PANTHEON.tech works closely with the Top 10 Service Providers in the world – with over 200 successful projects to show for it.
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