By deploying vSwitch Offload, data centers can recover the CPU capacity lost to switching overhead but required for effective deployment of network virtualization.

NoviFlow, provider of high-performance OpenFlow-based switching solutions, announced the launch of the vSwitch Offload solution for optimizing the deployment of network functions virtualization (NFV). The announcement was made from SDN & OpenFlow World Congress in The Netherlands, where NoviFlow demonstrated the innovation.

The widespread adoption of virtualization and containerization has led to a corresponding increase in the complexity of networking. The industry’s response has been to implement basic routing capabilities in the servers on which VMs (Virtual Machines) and containers are running. This is generally accomplished by running a vSwitch on servers with multiple-core CPUs. However, these vSwitches consume much of the processing capacity of these CPUs, causing a significant reduction in processing cycles available for revenue-generating applications.

Available today, vSwitch Offload is the newest release in NoviFlow’s industry leading high-performance OpenFlow 1.3/1.4/1.5 switching software for improving the performance of Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs). It does this by eliminating the need to run vSwitches in network servers intended to receive VNFs, thereby avoiding the need to relegate multiple processor cores to networking activities such as packet forwarding – tasks for which X86 processors are less efficient. These functions are instead reassigned to a NoviFlow Top-of-Rack switch, liberating as much as 60% of compute capacity for revenue-generating applications.

“Efficient handling of network forwarding is key for the successful deployment of NFV in data centers, carrier and large enterprise networks. In the new world of connected mobile devices and the Internet of Things, NoviFlow’s vSwitch Offload solution provides the ideal forwarding plane to deploy virtualized applications at scale, with table space for up to 16 millions devices at wire speed, combined with advanced element management features, such as plug-and-play deployment, needed to cost-effectively implement robust, and high-demand SDN, cloud, and NFV solutions,” explains Dominique Jodoin, president and CEO of NoviFlow.

Jodoin adds, “vSwitch Offload concentrates the networking functions in the ToR, which is able to leverage SDN to implement other networking functions on the same NoviSwitches, such as path optimization, load balancing, service chaining, and network monitoring, as well as accelerate cybersecurity applications in data centers. vSwitch Offload shows how high-performance, programmable OpenFlow forwarding planes, such as our NoviSwitches, can be used to optimize NFV deployment by making far more efficient usage of network and server resources. The new product further demonstrates of NoviFlow’s commitment to SDN innovation in the global marketplace.”

Programmers, network operations staff, press and analysts were invited to meet NoviFlow and see vSwitch Offload, NoviFlow’s other advanced OpenFlow solutions and Open Source projects, and Inside-OpenFlow.com demonstrated live at the SDN World Congress.

For more information about NoviFlow high-performance OpenFlow 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 switching products you can visit visit: http://noviflow.com/products/our-products/