Marvell Technology, Inc., F5 Networks, and Arm have come together to showcase the first demonstration of an open programmable infrastructure project at the OCP Global Summit 2023. This collaboration marks an important milestone for the Open Programmable Infrastructure (OPI) project, as it presents a real-world use case based on the OPI framework.
The demonstration highlights the potential of using the OPI framework to offload key infrastructure management services, such as security, load balancing, and API gateways, from the host processor to the Data Processing Unit (DPU). By doing so, operators of cloud services and data centers can reduce the total cost of ownership and increase their overall computing capacity by freeing up CPU cores for more user applications.
Established in 2022 by the Linux Foundation, OPI aims to foster an open and community-focused ecosystem based on standards for next-generation architectures and frameworks built on DPU technologies. OPI simplifies network, storage, and security APIs in applications, enabling more portable and performant applications in the cloud and data center through DevOps, SecOps, and NetOps.
The specific use case demonstrated involves an F5 NGINX container acting as a proxy for traffic directed to a workload running either on the DPU host or on separate hosts. The NGINX container runs on a single-node OpenShift installation on an Arm® Neoverse™ server based on Marvell’s OCTEON 10 DPU. The demonstration showcases the need for increased reliability, affordability, and security for future requirements and outcomes.
« F5 believes that DPU technologies are the key to achieving these three objectives for our customers, » said Joel Moses, Technical Director of Platforms and Systems at F5 and a board member of OPI. This OPI technology demonstration directly illustrates what Marvell’s DPU can do to achieve these objectives, including enhanced security, performance, and reliability of web applications through the use of NGINX.
This collaboration between Marvell, F5 Networks, and Arm represents a significant step forward in the development of open and programmable infrastructure. It highlights the potential benefits of leveraging DPUs to optimize and streamline infrastructure management in cloud and data center environments. With OPI providing a framework for standardization and interoperability, the future of programmable infrastructure looks promising.
Source: S&P Capital IQ