This talk presents how to to offload networking tasks onto dedicated hardware/smartNICs/NPUs (network processing units) - chips, and why this is a great idea.
First, we take a look at chips in general - how they are made, integrated into networks, and why time is playing to the advantage of dedicated chips vs. CPUs/software.
Then, focus is on how offloading network tasks is a particularly beautiful example of the advantages of hardware-implementing logic, with examples like TCP offloading, cybersecurity applications, or traffic shaping.
To be fair and balanced, there will also be a look at the downsides of chips, but of course also ideas for mitigating them.
Finally, there will be a look at what's out there, and how to integrate custom chips into your systems.
Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0