Barefoot Networks to Showcase Technologies to Build Fast and Resilient Networks Using Deep Insighttm and Tofinotm-Powered Cisco Nexus Switches at Cisco Live US 2019

Barefoot Networks, a provider of high-performance and fully programmable networking solutions, today announced several innovative new technical capabilities that it will demonstrate at Cisco Live in San Diego, June 9-13. These demonstrations highlight the benefits of deploying Barefoot Tofino-powered Cisco Nexus switches along with Barefoot Deep Insight for high-performance P4-programmable switching and routing with real-time network monitoring and visibility.

The rise of new applications in modern data center networks brings requirements for granular visibility, performance monitoring and control for the east-to-west traffic and flows generated by distributed workloads. Barefoot has leveraged Slack, a cloud-based collaboration tool, to provide real-time updates and alarms to help operators detect and remedy problems in their networks in a timely fashion.

Barefoot will also showcase how organizations can leverage programmability in a standard switching platform, enabling them to customize some features while still enjoying support and services of the Cisco platforms. The P4 data-plane is opened up to users using Cisco's Data Plane Incremental Programming Environment (daPIPE).

The following demonstrations will be showcased at Cisco Live:

Location: Barefoot ? Booth 3319
Demo Name: Deep Insight Network Analytics and Event-Based Telemetry on a Cisco Nexus 34180YC and Cisco Nexus 3464C Platforms With SPRINT Enabled Fabric

Description: In this demonstration Barefoot will showcase a leaf/spine data-center topology that uses Nexus 34180YC and Nexus 3464C series of switches based on the P4-programmable Barefoot Tofino application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and the industry standard NX-OS. Barefoot Deep Insight, which is fully integrated with the Cisco programmable fabric, will be used to continuously monitor the network and the virtualized applications to pinpoint, correlate and analyze path and latency, congestion and drop information. A new Deep Insight Slack integration allows network operators to continuously monitor the network infrastructure, receiving real-time alarm notifications without having to use the Deep Insight user interface, showcasing the extensibility and ease of integration with 3rd party industry standard management tools.

Location: Barefoot ? Booth 3319
Demo Name: daPIPE: A Data Plane Incremental Programming Environment Use-Cases

Description: In this demonstration, the programmability of the Barefoot's Tofino P4 data-plane is opened up to end-users that wish to add incremental and specialized features to standard switch functionality. The demo walks through daPIPE, a Data Plane Incremental Programming Environment, which supports a developer, here called incremental programmer, in adding data plane features to a Tofino-based Nexus switch running a pre-existing data plane program controlled by the Cisco NX-OS. This demo shows how daPIPE is used to add the capability of switching media flows based on the RTP timestamp, as detailed in the well-known use case published by Fox Advanced Technology on Github. Barefoot demonstrates how daPIPE guides the incremental programmers and streamlines their work, to the point that they do not even need to have access to the Nexus 3400 P4 program. This new DevOps approach to networking enables organizations to future proof their network using an OEM platform, and eliminates the risks and complexity of supporting classic whitebox solutions.

Location: SDCC - Upper Level, Room 23C
Breakout Session: BRKDCN-2694 - Your data plane does not need to be carved in stone any more: P4 and programmable data planes
Date and Time: June 12, 8:00 - 10:00 AM

Description: Switches and routers rely on application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to achieve the required scale and performance. Traditionally, this has meant that data plane features are "carved in stone" (i.e. silicon), literally. However, a new generation of programmable chips has radically changed this. Modifying the data plane, to add new features or fix a bug, no longer requires the time and cost of spinning a new ASIC?it is not cost efficient nor is it the exclusive prerogative of vendors that have the engineering skills and process to do so. This technical session offers an overview of the most common approaches and tools to data plane programmability (e.g., the P4 language, programmable switch architectures) while exploring the benefits it can bring to Cisco customers by looking into how different players, such as network equipment vendors, end customers, or even third parties, can leverage it and present representative use cases.

In addition to the planned booth demos, Barefoot will also showcase other advanced switching and routing applications that implement traffic engineering and realize end-to-end policy in the network.

To meet with Barefoot at Cisco Live, please contact [email protected].

About Barefoot Networks

Barefoot Networks launched in 2016 after two years of developing technology that built switch silicon with a forwarding plane that is defined in software while not compromising on performance. Barefoot empowers network owners and their infrastructure partners to design, optimize, and innovate to meet their specific requirements and gain competitive advantage. In combining the P4 programming language with fast programmable switches, Barefoot has also created an ecosystem for compilers, tools, and P4 programs to make P4 accessible to anybody. Backed by Google Inc., Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, Alibaba, Tencent, and by premier venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz, Barefoot Networks is headquartered in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit https://barefootnetworks.com/. Follow us on Twitter: @barefootnetwork. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barefootnetworks. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barefoot-networks.

Barefoot Networks, the Foot Logo, Tofino, Deep Insight, P4 Studio, and P4 insight are trademarks of Barefoot Networks