The FWA-6522C optimizes packet delivery from high-speed network interfaces into CPU sockets and into the virtual machines by adding an extra layer of intelligence in front of the Intel Xeon processors. Demanding packet processing applications such as network/cybersecurity and network analytics can easily offload compute intensive functions like packet classification, load balancing, flow state tracking and virtual switching to cost-effectively meet 100GbE networking needs.

The FWA-6522C upgrades Advantech’s previous generation ultra high-end appliance with the Intel Xeon Processor E5-4600 v3 product family which provides 50% more cores, threads and cache than previous generation for faster application response. The quad socket FWA-6522C also increases memory density supporting up to 1TB of RAM which is essential in highly complex applications.

The FWA-6522C provides up to 400 Gbps of flexible network I/O through four PHY Mezzanine Moduleswith various network interface choices up to 100GbE and optional advanced LAN bypass. Its unique system design improves PCIe connectivity and thermal performance in a compact 2U rackmount footprint. Carrier-grade IPMI and BIOS features include hardware-redundant BIOS and fail safe HPM.1 firmware updates of all components for advanced reliability.

FWA-6522C innovation resides in its efficient integration of compute and I/O that increases throughput and reduces latency by integrating a Netronome FlowNIC able to route high-speed traffic to the destination Intel Xeon physical or virtualized cores. The FlowNIC is connected to the Intel Xeon processors using four PCIe x8 Gen3 interfaces.

The FWA-6522C also provides acceleration for the Open vSwitch datapath which is a competitive advantage for providers looking to virtualize their network infrastructure. These benefits in performance can be achieved at minimum development costs: presenting a NIC to each socket, the FlowNIC does not break the existing programming model and is compatible with industry standard software frameworks such as Linux, Intel DPDK, OpenFlow and Open vSwitch.