The ANS-8A64 server series is based on an Intel Atom C3000 processor, which qualifies it for network acceleration system for software defined wide area network (SD-WAN) users, said Portwell.
SD-WAN is used to connect a wide range of corporate networks, data centres, internet applications and cloud services, which aims to help reduce a WAN’s operating cost and improve connection flexibility, explained Portwell. More and more applications will depend on the cloud to process data, which also brings the escalating demands for network security as this data on the cloud may contain personal ID, credit card numbers and other private information.
IPSec protocol works in the third layer of the OSI (open systems interconnection) model and supports two modes, host-to-host mode and tunnel mode, either of which can be used to build a virtual private network (VPN) to increase the security of network transmission.
The Intel Atom C3000 processor series features industry-leading performance per watt, claimed Portwell, with low thermal design power (TDP) and configurable high-speed I/O, making it suitable for networks, storage devices, IoT and scalable designs. It is also equipped with Intel QuickAssist Technology (Intel QAT). The Intel QAT engine means IPSec protocol operation, data encryption, decryption and compression can be handled independently. It saves the CPU resource for other critical workloads and eventually optimises the overall work efficiency and performance, said Portwell.
During field tests of the data plane development kit (DPDK) and Intel QAT, the ANS-8A64 was used as IPSec gateways and the encryption and decryption performance was repeatedly tested.
In a one-way test, packets are sent unidirectionally from server port1 to server port2, and encryption and decryption are performed by IPSec gateway1 and IPSec gateway2.
A two-way test, consists of the server port1 and server port2 sending packets at the same time, and encrypting and decrypting packets through IPSec gateway1 and IPSec gateway2.
Portwell reported that the hardware acceleration engine, Intel QAT offers a “significant system optimisation and effectively betters the overall performance in both one-way and two-way testing”.
Portwell is an Associate member of the Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance, designs and manufactures a full range of IPC products (SBC, backplane, redundant power supply, rack mount and node chassis), embedded architecture solutions, DVR system platforms and communications appliances. It provides R&D and project management services to decrease customers’ time to market and reduce project risk and cost. Portwell is also an ISO 13485, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 -certified company that deploys quality assurance through product design, verification and manufacturing cycles.
