6WIND Offers Support for Intel Platforms to Accelerate Packet Processing Functions

6WIND, a provider of high-performance packet processing software for embedded systems, announced support for the new multi-core, embedded Intel (News - Alert) Xeon processors, EC5549 and E5645, in order to increase the packet processing performance by 10 times through the company’s 6WINDGate software.

According to a press release, the 6WINDGate software provides high packet processing performance for Intel platforms. Consequently, system developers were able increase the packet processing performance of their networking, telecommunications and security products by up to 10 times more compared to a standard Linux implementation, while reusing their existing application software.

Systems utilizing 6WINDGate software configured with the “6WINDGate SDS” profile were able to achieve a 7 times performance increase on a four-core Intel Xeon processor EC5549 platform compared to an implementation based on a standard Linux networking stack and similarly a 10 times performance improvement on a six-core Intel Xeon processor E5645 platform.

Officials with the company said in the release that 6WIND solution raises the performance of multi-core Intel platforms to a level that enables the development of new applications in areas such as network security and advanced IP services that generally need high-speed packet processing within constrained power budgets.

In addition, the 6WINDGate engine is transparent to application software. As a result, developers can add compelling new features to their current Linux-based applications, or can even create new products from beginning. These can be accomplished while working within standard Linux development environments and leveraging Linux packages available in the open-source community.

Apart from maximizing software reuse, 6WINDGate’s architecture also simplifies integrating high-performance packet processing with the Linux environment. This is due to the fact that it completely synchronizes the Fast Path and Linux, while preserving Linux APIs. It includes complete Layer 2 through Layer 4 embedded networking features.

Furthermore, 6WIND’s environment encompasses an XML-based management interface, which simplifies the integration of networking applications and customers' value-added features.

The 6WINDGate software will be available with full 6WINDGate SDS profile support for Intel Xeon processor EC5549 and Intel Xeon processor E5645 in mid-2010. An early release is available configured with the “6WINDGate EDS (News - Alert)” profile.