Linaro Enables Wider Portability of High Speed Networking Applications with Release of OpenDataPlane v1.0

OpenDataPlane (ODP) enables proven software portability between network compute platforms, regardless of the underlying instruction set architecture (ISA), as well as transparent support for any hardware or software acceleration capability.

Cambridge, UK -- March 3, 2015 -- Linaro Ltd, the collaborative engineering organization developing open source software for its member companies, today announced the release of OpenDataPlane version 1.0.

ODP is an open source, open contribution framework for portable, high performance data plane applications. Applications written to the ODP APIs can run on any ODP-enabled network compute platform, including System-on-Chip (SoC), general purpose processor (with or without additional network hardware acceleration) or Application Specific IC (ASIC) solutions. ODP-enabled platforms enjoy both portability and transparent access to any available hardware or software acceleration capabilities. In turn, platforms that support ODP can run any ODP application with a simple recompile. ODP implementations have been developed to support a variety of networking SoCs and processor architectures, including ARM, MIPS, Power Architecture, and x86.

The ODP open source framework has been developed by the Linaro Networking Group (LNG) since October 2013 as a joint effort of many stakeholders, spanning both application providers and silicon vendors. These stakeholders have been working towards the common goal of providing a truly open source and cross-platform framework for portable application access to advanced hardware acceleration and offload capabilities provided by industry-leading network SoCs. The release of ODP v1.0 represents the completion of the first phase of ODP development, and provides a stable set of APIs suitable for widespread application development and evaluation. In 2015 ODP will continue to be developed to provide an enhanced set of APIs and implementations across a range of network compute platforms including multiple CPU architectures.

LNG members anticipate that ODP will be a key building block in the realization of SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) solutions. The framework provides for the first time a portable cross-architecture design that can be used by application and platform providers to maximize the performance of their unique product capabilities.

Included in this release is the definition of the ODP v1.0 APIs, an open source reference implementation of these APIs that can run on any Linux platform, as well as a validation suite that can be used by ODP implementations to verify that they conform to the ODP v1.0 API set. Additional implementations of ODP v1.0 targeting specific SoC platforms will be announced by their respective owners in the coming weeks.

For more information about ODP, to download a copy of version 1.0, or to become involved in the project, please visit OpenDataPlane.org.

Supporting Quotes

ARM

“OpenDataPlane has already demonstrated cross platform interoperability and has been identified as a critical upstream project for the network infrastructure market,” said Ian Drew, Chief Marketing Officer and EVP Business Development, ARM. “In reaching the ODP 1.0 release milestone, Linaro delivers a shining example of what can be accomplished through open source collaboration.”

Cavium

“All the members of the Linaro Networking Group (LNG) should be proud that with the release of OpenDataPlane (ODP) v1.0 the team has fulfilled the vision of creating a standard that can provide for cross platform compatibility at the API layer that is completely portable across a range of vendors’ processors including Cavium’s OCTEON and ThunderX product lines.” said Imran Badr, VP of Software Engineering, Cavium. “Cavium’s extensive experience in fast-path development has allowed us to utilize ODP to extract the maximum performance from our accelerated hardware to the point that it is on par with our bare metal implementations. Indeed at Mobile World Congress 2015 we are showing 100Gbps of IPSEC throughput utilizing ODP APIs on our OCTEON III CN78xx 48 core processor as well as a Virtualized Mobile Core (vEPC) demo also utilizing ODP APIs on our ThunderX ARMv8-A based cores in a completely virtualized environment. The growing third party support for the ODP ecosystem coupled with the work of the Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV) project will help accelerate the evolution of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) initiatives.”

ENEA

“As a founding member of the Linaro Networking Group and contributor to the OpenDataPlane initiative, Enea is committed to working together with leading hardware vendors and customers on SDN- and NFV-enabling technologies”, said Daniel Forsgren, SVP Product Management at Enea. “We are proud to be a key partner in the ARM ecosystem, developing and hardening optimal software solutions for tomorrow’s connected society.”

Freescale

“Freescale was a major contributor to the development of ODP and is fully supportive of ODP’s charter of providing a truly open, truly multi-platform API for developing highly accelerated and virtualized networks,” said Raja Tabet, Vice President of Software and Systems for Freescale’s Digital Networking Group. “Freescale is also announcing support for ODP on our industry leading line of QorIQ multicore communications processors based on both ARM and Power Architectures”.

MontaVista

“With the release of ODP v1.0, a truly open, cross platform framework supporting multiple architectures becomes available to Network equipment providers and integrators to build and maintain advanced data plane applications easily. MontaVista has already engaged with key OEMs to integrate ODP applications with our Carrier Grade Edition Linux platforms and moving forward we will be supporting the latest advances in powerful ARM V8 SoCs such as Cavium’s ThunderX.” said Sanjay Raina, General Manager of MontaVista Software.

Nokia Networks

“Mobile broadband operators face a spread of challenges and exciting new opportunities to build profitability. Traffic growth continues almost unbounded, demanding new network capacity, yet traffic patterns are increasingly unpredictable. At the same time, providing a great network experience for subscribers is extremely important and will become critical as a principal driver of revenue. To meet these needs, operators require extreme flexibility in their network and operations to satisfy their customers by responding with rapid time-to-market performance. In parallel, they need to see a drastic reduction in their total ‘production’ cost per bit. OpenDataPlane is a continuation in our effort to provide better application portability, faster time-to-market, higher performance and lower power across all networking applications,” said Jarmo Hillo, Head of Processor Technology at Nokia Networks.

About Linaro
Linaro is the place where engineers from the world’s leading technology companies define the future of Linux on ARM. The company is a not-for-profit engineering organization with over 150 engineers working on consolidating and optimizing open source software for the ARM architecture, including developer tools, the Linux kernel, ARM power management, and other software infrastructure. Linaro is distribution neutral: it wants to provide the best software foundations to everyone by working upstream, and to reduce non-differentiating and costly low level fragmentation. The effectiveness of the Linaro approach has been demonstrated by Linaro’s growing membership, and by Linaro consistently being listed as one of the top five company contributors to Linux kernels since 3.10.

To ensure commercial quality software, Linaro’s work includes comprehensive test and validation on member hardware platforms. The full scope of Linaro’s engineering work is open to all online. To find out more, please visit http://www.linaro.org.

About ARM
ARM is at the heart of the world’s most advanced digital products. Our technology enables the creation of new markets and transformation of industries and society. We design scalable, energy-efficient processors and related technologies to deliver the intelligence in applications ranging from sensors to servers, including smartphones, tablets and the internet of things.

Our innovative technology is licensed by ARM Partners who have shipped more than 60 billion system-on-chip (SoC) devices containing ARM intellectual property since the company began in 1990. Together with our Connected Community, we are breaking down barriers to innovation for developers, designers and engineers, ensuring a fast, reliable route to market for leading electronics companies. Learn more and join the conversation at http://community.arm.com.

About Cavium
Cavium is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in enterprise, data center, cloud and wired and wireless service provider applications. Cavium offers a broad portfolio of integrated, software-compatible processors ranging in performance from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps that enable secure, intelligent functionality in enterprise, data-center, broadband/consumer and access and service provider equipment. Cavium’s processors are supported by ecosystem partners that provide operating systems, tool support, reference designs and other services. Cavium’s principal office is in San Jose, CA with design team locations in California, Massachusetts, India and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.cavium.com.

About ENEA
Enea is a global supplier of Linux and real-time operating system solutions, including middleware, tools, databases, and world class services, with a vision to enable communication everywhere. As a trusted and respected player in the embedded software eco system, Enea has for more than four decades delivered value and helped customers develop and maintain ground-breaking products. Every day, more than three billion people around the globe rely on Enea’s technologies in a wide range of applications in multiple verticals – from Telecom and Automotive, to Medical and Avionics. Enea has offices in Europe, North America and Asia, and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm AB. For more information please visit www.enea.com or contact us at info@enea.com.

About Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE:FSL) enables secure, embedded processing solutions for the Internet of Tomorrow. Freescale’s solutions drive a more innovative and connected world, simplifying our lives and making us safer. While serving the world’s largest companies, Freescale is also committed to supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, enabling the next generation of innovators. www.freescale.com

About MontaVista Software
MontaVista Software, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), is a leading provider of Carrier Grade Linux and Cloud Platform solutions. For over 15 years, MontaVista has been helping Linux developers get the most out of open source by adding commercial quality, integration, hardware enablement, expert support, and the resources of the MontaVista development community. Because MontaVista customers enjoy faster time to market, more competitive device functionality, and lower total cost, more devices have been deployed with MontaVista than with any other Linux. To learn more, please visit www.mvista.com

About Nokia Networks
Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Nokia Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field.

Nokia Networks is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world’s most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly. http://networks.nokia.com/ http://company.nokia.com