Heavy Networking 654: What’s Up With DPUs?

Today on Heavy Networking we have a round-table discussion about Data Processing Units (DPUs). Or, as Intel calls them, Infrastructure Processing Units (IPUs). DPUs have come to prominence in the past couple of years thanks to marketing efforts by companies such as NVIDIA, Intel, and Pensando (since acquired by AMD). The basic pitch around these devices is to bring networking, security, and storage closer to workloads on a physical server, without having to use the server’s CPU and memory. The DPU/IPU bundles together a network interface along with its own programmable compute and memory that can run services and applications such as packet processing, virtual switching, security functions, and storage. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Aaron Glenn and Pete Lumbis to discuss: * The difference among SmartNICs, FPGAs, and DPUs/IPUs * DPU use cases and target markets * Adoption challenges * How DPUs might be managed and monitored * The tension between supporting third-party applications while wanting to control hardware access * More Sponsor: ITProTV Start or grow your IT career with online training with ITProTV. Learn IT, pass your certs, and get a great job! Visit itpro.tv/packetpushers and use the promo code PACKETPUSHERS at checkout to get 30% off all plans. Show Links: NVIDIA BlueField Data Processing Units – NVIDIA AMD Pensando – AMD Intel Infrastructure Processing Unit – Intel @networkservice – Aaron Glenn on Twitter Predictedpaths.com @peteccde – Pete Lumbis on Twitter