DPUs and the Importance of Data Center Fabric Technology
Solutions Review, Thursday, June 22, 2023
For organizations of all sizes, data centers are a critical component that enables the storage and processing of massive amounts of data for business-critical applications. The network fabrics these data centers are built around are increasingly critical- and increasingly more complex.
Over the past decade, the evolution of data center fabrics has evolved into high-performing leaf-spine topologies to address the volume and velocity of emerging application architectures. Despite advancements in these fabrics, their associated services have not kept pace, resulting in efficiency bottlenecks and security vulnerabilities that impede productivity. This is where Data Processing Units (DPUs) come into play.
DPUs are typically integrated into Smart Switches and other network devices to enable distributed services. Distributed services technology allows customers to scale and realize the potential of next-generation data center technology without the need to rip and replace existing infrastructure. DPUs and the advanced stateful software services they enable can be added incrementally to the fabric without adding performance and administrative overhead to application servers.