An Introduction To SmartNICs And Their Benefits
SearchNetworking, Friday, July 14,2023
SmartNICs offload packet processing tasks from server CPUs, freeing up resources for application performance. They can run packet capture and load balancing, among other tasks.
The rise of software-based networking, encryption and management functions can place a significant strain on the processing capacity of server CPUs. Smart network interface cards, or smartNICs, are an increasingly popular method of offloading intensive packet processing tasks from servers.
The NIC has long been used to connect servers to the Ethernet network. SmartNICs offload certain functions from the server processor, thus freeing cycles to drive application performance. SmartNICs employ specialized processors -- often field programmable gate arrays -- to power their offload capacity. These FPGAs are programmable using standard development tools.