In today’s high-speed & Compute intensive networking environment, traditional operating systems are inefficient at packet handling taking 10 to 20 times longer to move data between the network and applications than it takes to transmit over the network itself. Even with modern multicore CPUs from Intel or AMD, standard kernel stacks struggle to manage multiple 100 Gbps interfaces, especially in data centres where traffic exceeds hundreds of Gbps and even reaches Tbps.
As infrastructure scales to support growing datasets, maintenance becomes more complex. Hyperscalers have recognized the need for flexible architectures to handle diverse workloads efficiently and have identified a “datacentre tax,” where nearly 30% of CPU cycles are lost in the lower layers of the software stack. This led to the invention of Network Interface Card in various forms viz Smart NICs, Super NICs, AI NICs, IPUs, DPUs & so on. iWave offers a high-performance SmartNICs, enabling faster, secure, and scalable data processing at the NICs and relieving some of the CPU Cores for Compute-Workload tasks.
Why SmartNICs?
SmartNIC is a programmable NIC, allowing engineers to build networking accelerator or data plane applications into the NIC hardware. In its basic form – It can incorporate network traffic management, encryption, packet filtering engines with various complex workloads as well. SmartNIC’s reduce the burden on the main CPU, improve overall system performance, and allow for faster, scalable processing in high-speed networks, especially in data centres where network demands are rapidly increasing.
Why iWave’s SmartNIC?
iWave’s SmartNICs is a FPGA based Smart NIC with embedded SoC that combines powerful hardware acceleration and computing capabilities on a single card by offering massive parallelism through millions of Logic Elements and DSP blocks with CPU Cores. iWave also offers a wide range of FPGA System on Modules from low-end to high-end providing a strong, scalable foundation for SmartNIC implementations while accelerating time-to-market and reducing development effort. We also provide server Integration along with SmartNICs for the ease of integration.
SmartNIC Offloads
- Network Offloads: Switching, Tunnelling and Overlay, Monitoring and Telemetry, Load balancing, 5G UPF.
- Security Offloads: Firewall, Intrusion Detection/Prevention System, IPSec, TLS, Data at Rest Encryption, Compression and Decompression.
- Storage Offloads: RDMA based NVMe-oF Initiator, NVMe-oF Target
Key Advantages
- Infrastructure Offloading – Offloads up to 30% of server processing by handling infrastructure tasks on the NIC.
- Application Acceleration – Executes network, storage, and compute functions on the NIC, boosting server performance and reducing TCO.
- Agility & Programmability – Enables fast updates and adaptability through programmable architecture.
- Security Isolation – Enhances security by isolating infrastructure functions from the host system.
- Scalability – Scales efficiently to support high device volumes with minimal latency and power use.
- Energy Efficiency – Combines ARM and FPGA and distribute right task for the platform for high-performance, low-power operation.
Applications of SmartNICs
- Data Center for workloads: SmartNICs enhance data centre efficiency by offloading networking, security, and storage functions, reducing CPU load and improving overall performance.
- High-Performance Computing: By integrating SmartNICs, HPC systems achieve low-latency communication, intelligent workload distribution, and accelerated data transfer, enabling seamless execution of high-speed simulations, AI, and scientific computing tasks.
- Data Path acceleration: By Offloading functions, SmartNICs ensure faster and more efficient data transfer between storage and compute nodes
- Disaggregated Storage Architectures: SmartNICs drive efficient storage and compute scaling in cloud environments.
iWave offers comprehensive ODM services—from concept to production—leveraging in-house expertise including hardware, software, FPGA, and mechanical domains. Our FPGA capabilities span RTL, high-speed interfaces, storage, video, networking, and high-speed ADC/DAC, supporting the full product lifecycle. We assist with hardware customization, software porting, and algorithm development to help customers accelerate time-to-market. iWave also provides cooling mechanisms like heat sinks and enclosures to meet thermal requirements. For detailed FPGA System on Module options, explore our AMD Product Selection Guide and Altera Product Selection Guide, or feel free to contact us at mktg@iwave-global.com.
