AMD has announced that SmartNICs (Smart Network Interface Cards) will be deployed at Microsoft Azure. The so-called Pensando Data Processing Units are the driving force behind the recently announced Microsoft Accelerated Connections service, which accelerates networking via Azure.
In a blog post, AMD explains how Accelerated Connections works. It accelerates network virtual appliances (NVAs) by efficiently managing active connections (flows) and connections per second (CPS). This functionality is essential for supporting critical workloads such as virtual firewalls, load balancers, and network switches.
Scalable
AMD has divided the hardware behind Accelerated Connections into pairs of SDN (Software Defined Network) appliances. The double coverage is to prevent the service from becoming unavailable during maintenance or a malfunction. The architecture originates from Pensando, which AMD acquired last year. Each SDN appliance contains six Pensando DPUs, designed for maximum scalability and workload flexibility.
SmartNIC technology is an advanced version of what is found on NIC hardware, as the name implies. A ‘regular’ NIC is simply an intermediary point in the communication between connected equipment, such as data center servers and computers. A SmartNIC can take over more complex networking tasks from the CPU, such as encryption or protection against DDoS attacks.
The innovative aspect of this is that users cannot usually access the hardware directly, but this equipment forms the basis of other services. In other words, Accelerated Connections provides low-level access to the hardware, even though it is in the cloud.
Advantageous
The deal comes at a convenient time for AMD, as it is facing a sharp drop (65 percent) in revenue from processors intended for client devices. AMD CEO Lisa Su has promised better results for the coming quarters. The introduction of Zen 4 technology in more chips offers users the opportunity to take advantage of PCI 5.0 and DDR5 memory, making many processes much faster.
Also read: AMD is rapidly growing in the data center at the expense of Intel.
