Technology helps accelerate real-time Big Data processing using Ethernet

NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a leading technology provider for advanced IT, communications, networking and biometrics solutions, today announced the general availability in North America of its ExpEther 40G technology as an advanced version of ExpEther 1G/10G. This technology uses Ethernet infrastructure to help accelerate real-time Big Data processing.

The ExpEther technology enables system expansion by connecting PCI Express devices directly, using an Ethernet infrastructure. As the ExpEther keeps the native PCI Express connectivity, the PCI Express devices can also be operated as a single system, despite being distributed in different locations connected by Ethernet. This process enables standard PCI Express configurations, interruptions, and hot plugging to be remotely performed with an Ethernet LAN, as if they were connected to a virtual single-hop PCI Express switch.

NEC’s ExpEther 40G technology delivers a compelling solution for real-time Big Data processing and other data center workload acceleration. It does so by enabling the connection of GPGPU, NVMe SSD, or FPGA-based accelerators via an Ethernet connection. NEC has closely collaborated with Xilinx, a fellow ExpEther Consortium member, to validate and enable the ExpEther 40G technology as either an IP core or an ExpEther platform leveraging Xilinx UltraScale™ FPGAs. NEC launched the IP core business in January 2016.

ExpEther 40G provides customers with the following advantages:

• Since all connections with the computing resources can be dynamically reconfigured, ExpEther40G technology optimizes the utilization rate.
• Original software assets can be used without changing the device drivers, even when all resources are connected via Ethernet.
• The service platform enables the scalability needed to process Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and big data projects in real time, especially in the area of high-performance servers, which have difficulty in utilizing ExpEther 1G/10G.

Additionally, in May 2015 NEC joined the OpenPOWER Foundation, an open development community, to extend ExpEther’s technology through high performance and scalability and investigate ways to contribute to IBM’s POWER Architecture.

NEC hopes to develop additional business opportunities by collaborating with OpenPOWER foundation members IBM and Xilinx to increase the scalability of ExpEther technology and the Power8 Processor.

“NEC’s ExpEther technology is a compelling solution for data center and IoT applications,” said Curtis Pulley, Data Center business manager at Xilinx. “We are excited to support NEC, a Xilinx Alliance Member, as it brings this technology to market.”

“IBM believes that the ExpEther technology can bring innovative and differentiating capabilities to IBM Power Systems and a growing set of POWER-based systems developed and delivered by the rapidly expanding OpenPOWER community,” said Rakesh Sharma, OpenPOWER Chief Engineer, IBM. “NEC’s ExpEther technology matches the concept of the POWER Architecture’s and IBM Power Systems’ disaggregated I/O.”

Source : NEC Corporation of America
with Business Wire