Broadcom announced its next generation OpenFlow Data Plane Abstraction (OF-DPA) version 2.0 reference platform that includes OpenFlow software, specification and APIs, optimized for use in carrier networks and datacenter applications. With support for new networking protocols, the OF-DPA v2.0 reference platform allows datacenters and service providers to quickly deploy new applications and services.
The OF-DPA v2.0 reference platform enables service providers to provision, control, and instrument network switch elements through a standardized instruction set, based on the OpenFlow specification, APIs and its extensions. Designed to run on Broadcom's industry leading StrataXGS chipset, the reference platform delivers on the flexibility and control requirements of large-scale carrier deployments.
"Broadcom's OF-DPA v2.0 supports emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) use cases for service provider networks," said Ram Velaga, Broadcom Senior Vice President & General Manager, Network Switch.
"The OF-DPA 2.0 feature set for the widely-deployed StrataXGS-based hardware, coupled with a rich software ecosystem, enables improved efficiency and operational agility for the largest carriers around the globe."
Broadcom's OF-DPA v2.0 reference platform enhances its previously released OF-DPA 1.0 reference platform with new carrier features including MPLS-TP, OAM and QoS and includes support for additional platforms optimized for carrier use cases.
Carrier network operators will now have access to the same scalable infrastructure with programming abstractions that can be automated from standard controllers resulting in cost and time efficiencies. Examples of these include requirements for a Packet Transport Network (PTN) switch and the semantics of hardware packet flows.
Broadcom's OF-DPA v2.0 reference platform implements the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) OpenFlow 1.3.1 specification. OF-DPA defines and implements a hardware abstraction layer that maps the feature-rich StrataXGS switch architecture to the OpenFlow v1.3.1 switch and pipeline while providing innovative concepts on how OpenFlow can be implemented in the most efficient way.
The OF-DPA specification and API are openly published and provided with turnkey reference implementation on Original Device Manufacturers (ODM) and Open Compute Project (OCP)-compliant switches to enable a community and academia-based development ecosystem.
Features:
－ Support for MPLS-TP, MPLS L3 VPN, VLAN Translation, and QoS DiffServ per-hop behavior based on RFC-compliant Meter table extensions
－ Leverages ONF Forwarding Abstractions Working Group Table Type Patterns (TTP)
－ Scalable OpenFlow switch pipeline that efficiently utilizes ASIC resources and that supports multiple platforms
－ Significantly improves latency and throughput of flows at scale using multiple tables and leveraging intrinsic ASIC capabilities such as advanced multipath support
－ Enables popular SDN use cases such as virtual tenant networks, network virtualization, traffic engineering and service chaining
