* Intel, Broadcom separately go after same problem
Intel and Broadcom this week separately gave a peek into chip designs that tackle the problems that servers face in handling the TCP/IP stack.
The traditional approach to the TCP/IP stack has been to let the server’s main processor handle network requests. But that can be taxing, especially as network speeds ratchet upwards – and the processor already has its hands full, so to speak, with application processing. This situation has given rise to a breed of technology called the TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE), which is specifically designed to handle network processing so the main server processor doesn’t have to.
Intel’s and Broadcom’s announcements take the concept a step further.
Broadcom introduced a NetXtreme II controller – a Gigabit Ethernet network interface controller that supports the PCI Express bus. As I mentioned last time, the up-and-coming PCI Express bus promises scalable bandwidth, low overhead and advanced features.
The controller provides a TOE, iSCSI support for storage networking and Remote Direct Memory Access – all on a single chip. It’s aimed at server vendors putting LAN functions directly onto server motherboards, but it could also be packaged in a stand-alone network adapter. Broadcom claims the chip would result in a five-times improvement in CPU utilization.
Meanwhile, Intel talked at its show about its upcoming I/O Acceleration Technology. This takes the concept of TOEs and builds on it by spreading around the network processing – among multiple physical or logical CPUs, chipsets and network controllers. Intel says it also optimized the TCP/IP stack for Intel-based servers.
Intel claims the new technology would speed the interaction between network data and server applications by up to 30%. But we won’t know until, as Intel says, “forthcoming platform introductions.” Microsoft won’t support the feature in its operating system until at least next year.
