Multicores can transform IP-based wired/wireless networking

The explosion of IP-based applications and services heralds in a convergence of telecommunications and IT toward IP architectures. This simplifies the networking architecture but leads to major challenges. A summary of challenges includes:

• The communications layer for the next generation network (NGN) will need tremendous performance enhancements and sophistication.
• IT systems (such as application servers and billing systems) will have to manage multi-10 Gbps traffic.
• The IP layer to be implemented in each piece of equipment becomes a critical component.
• Green computing will be essential to limit power consumption.

Important technical design complexities are inherent in progressing toward multicore, but the advantages are many. Developing embedded networking software for multicore can be perceived as complex because standard software cannot fully benefit from multicore improvements and requires some long and costly redesign phases for each protocol. No matter the roadblocks, the shift from running a processor at a higher frequency, as previously the only solution to increase processing capabilities, is well underway. Rightly so, as multicore allows several processors working in parallel to do the load while keeping power consumption under acceptable limits.

So, it's important to ensure complete layer 2-4 software functionalities for multicore. This includes:

• A new need for embedded networking software specifically for multicore that includes an efficient fast path architecture to make the best use of multicore performance according to the number of cores; It can be achieved using a specific multicore execution environment (MCEE), which provides APIs to implement lock-free packet processing that optimizes memory bandwidth contention and leads to unrivalled performance, compared with a standard operating system.
• A flexible distribution of the control plane/slow path/fast path over the cores, and a complete synchronization between these three elements running in separate environments.