Technology
Network Packet Broker Solution Accelerates KDDI’s 5G Wireless Network Analysis
Babu Peddu, Product Marketing Manager, Switch & Fabric Group
5G wireless networks are growing fast. Maintaining pace with that growth requires increasingly sophisticated network security and monitoring tools that keep networks safe and data flowing. While filtering and organizing data for those tools is automatically handled by a Network Packet Broker (NPB), any data flows that cause problems for the network often require manual troubleshooting.
Leading Japanese communications service provider, KDDI, sought to reduce the time and costs of this manual process with a streamlined NPB solution built on Intel® Tofino™ programmable Ethernet Switch ASICs. The new NPB solution focuses exclusively on isolating, filtering and analyzing problem data flows from user-equipment devices on their 5G network. The innovative solution incorporates KDDI’s NPB software with an Edgecore Networks Wedge100BF-32X P4-programmable switch that’s configured to provide up to 3.2 Tbps of total throughput. According to KDDI, verified tests have reduced its packet troubleshooting time from four hours to just 30 minutes.
Based on the Intel Tofino programmable Ethernet Switch ASIC, the Edgecore Networks switch offers data plane programmability that enables packet filtering and transformational NPB functionality that runs within the switch itself. The switch also features an Intel® Xeon® Processor D-1500 for onboard compute. Specific applications include:
- Investigating and detecting the cause for excessive packet loss
- Understanding the cause of data loss when network throughput is below specification
- Verifying IoT terminal performance in a real-world deployment
- Verifying the behavior of new internet access protocols such as Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC)
The P4 programmability of the Intel Tofino programmable Ethernet Switch is delivered using the ASIC’s Protocol Independent Switch Architecture (PISA), which is based on a programmable packet parsing logic and match action forwarding engine that enables:
- Packet processing optimized for end-user applications
- Traffic filtering and aggregation from different test access points (TAPs)
- Zero packet loss mechanism with line-rate performance
- End-to-end network visibility
- Network composability
- Adaptability to new workloads
KDDI needed a new packet capture capability to quickly respond to network trouble spots and provide excellent customer service for 5G customers. KDDI found the programmability of P4 switches made a perfect platform for its NPB solution. With line-rate throughput up to 100 Gbps, the platform meets the needs of KDDI’s 5G network today and is poised to support stand-alone 5G. The Intel Tofino-powered Wedge100BF-32X provided the right cost, port count, small size and switching and compute functionality to meet KDDI’s goals.
For a detailed discussion of KDDI’s P4-programmable NPB solution, read the solution brief.
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