Reconfigurable Network Processing: The FPGA Case

CARLOS ZERBINI; JORGE M. FINOCHIETTO

Córdoba

Conferencia; 40° Jornadas Argentinas de Informática (JAIIO); 2011

UTN

As communication networks evolve towards 100 gigabit per second rates to address an increasing demand of data trac, network processing solutions must be revised and upgraded to support this need. Meanwhile, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology is be- coming a much more interesting platform where to integrate network processing capabilities and compete with current available solutions. In this paper, we argue that FPGAs can play a signicant role in this area. To this end, a general discussion on the technology is rst introduced to later focus on the specic requirements to implement network process- ing architectures. Finally, based on our previous experience on building network devices on FPGAs, we discuss a case study to illustrate some of the main drivers to consider FPGA as a interesting solution for network processing.