Since a few months ntop and Silicom have started to work together on various network-related topics. The idea is to enhance PF_RING and TNAPI in order to offer better products and support for both the community and Silicom customers. Furthermore, Silicom produces very advanced products such as the content director card and the packet processor card, that could solve various network-related tasks including:
- packet mirroring, tapping, duplication
- packet steering
- QoS enforcement
- packet traffic analysis
As these activities are performed in hardware, they operate at wire-speed (at both 1 and 10 Gbit) without any CPU assistance, turning commodity Linux-based servers into powerful packet processor appliances that can deliver the same performance of costly ad-hoc devices. The main difference between these two approaches is both in price but also in freedom to leverage on open-source software that allows users to adapt the solution to their needs without being locked with costly, proprietary solutions.
The first results of this joint development effort, will be released in the next few months. Stay tuned.
Update: the collaboration ended on Jan 31st 2014.