Network Interface Controller

Next-Generation Extensible Network Interface Controller (eNIC)

Acadia Optronics LLC has developed a next-generation extensible network interface controller (eNIC) and an improved workstation architecture/protocol stack. The network interface controller supports multiple physical-layer interfaces, circuit-switched and statistically multiplexed protocols, and diverse higher-layer functionality. It is based principally upon a powerful, reconfigurable Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which provides sophisticated on-board processing capabilities and the versatility to meet a variety of protocol and application demands.

It uses the new PCI Express bus standard, which has the potential to operate at rates beyond 40 Gb/s. It supports one or more network interfaces at 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s each. The revised workstation architecture takes advantage of untapped throughput in existing motherboard designs readily available on the market. It also adapts networking drivers and middleware for high performance networking. Thus, we address throughput at every layer of the network path.

The extensible NIC includes a hardware "Network Application Program Interface" (NAPI) and Virtual Network Machine (VNM) architecture which provide a common framework for development of custom protocol and application acceleration "offload engines," including:

• Security (e.g. SSL/TLS, AES, packet filtering, monitoring)
• Storage (e.g. iSCSI, RAID acceleration, lossless compression)
• Video (e.g. visualization, codecs)
• Grid Computing (e.g. GridFTP and/or GSI)

It also includes a client application for easy reconfigurability of the device for a variety of end-user applications.


Secure Network Interface Controller (sNIC)


Conceptual diagram of a Secure Network Interface Controller integrated into an enterprise network.

Developed on the eNIC platform, Acadia’s Secure Network Interface Controller (sNIC) provides a robust hardware solution to secure critical network infrastructure at the workstation. It provides methods to securely authenticate and authorize hardware, users, and applications onto the intranet using industry-standard protocols such as 802.1X and SSL/TLS.

Additionally, on-board monitoring and control functionality enables network operators to remotely administer the workstation and collect accounting information using industry-standard interfaces and protocols.

Deploying sNICs provides a high degree of resiliency against malicious users and code, since only authenticated/authorized hardware is permitted to access the network. Additionally, since all security and administration functions reside in hardware, the system is highly resistant to hacking. It can withstand viruses, worms, “rootkits,” Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, and other security threats, enabling network administrators to monitor and control the network interface over dedicated control channels, even if the operating system itself is compromised. Features include:

• Extensible FPGA-based hardware platform.
• Multi-level Authentication/Authorization/Accounting (AAA) security for physical interface, user, and applications.
• Management Interface provided through standardized Management Information Base (MIB).
• Available in Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet versions

More information is available in the product brief (264 kB PDF, link opens in new window).


Hardware-based Performance Analysis and Acceleration

Acadia's deep understanding of hardware subsystems in workstations enables significant performance improvements within the system. Our software and hardware is designed with careful consideration of the host system's architecture, enabling our engineers to work around the bottlenecks and limitations of the system and tap otherwise-unused resources.
For example, the typical approach to performance analysis is to benchmark existing hardware with software at the user-level by making device driver calls to a device and measuring response time, throughput, and other key parameters. This is a "top-down" approach to performance analysis, looking from the perspective of the user towards the peripheral. It treats the underlying system, including the CPU, chipset, peripheral interface, and memory, as a "black box." Thus, it prevents the accurate identification and location of bottlenecks that may exist between these subsystems. While useful in part, it does not enable a detailed performance analysis for purposes of hardware design and development.

However, by using a logic analyzer (LA) at the peripheral, it is possible to examine the potential bottlenecks in depth, at an extremely low-level.

This is a “bottom-up” approach to performance analysis, since it allows the peripheral designer to look from the perspective of the peripheral towards the peripheral interface, chipset, CPU, and memory. It allows for precise measurements with a resolution of 500 ps to 8 ns, depending on the acquisition mode of the LA. In this fashion, it is possible to identify potential bottlenecks in subsystems which are invisible to the user/operating system designer.

For more information, please contact info@acadiaoptronics.com.