VMware has quietly stopped selling firewalls for SmartNICs.
Hyperscale clouds routinely use the devices to handle security and networking chores, by running network functions as VMs on the SmartNIC’s processor.
Running some housekeeping workloads on SmartNICs can also improve isolation and security – AWS often points to the benefits of its “Nitro” system which relies on SmartNICs.
At its VMware Explore conference earlier this month, Umesh Mahajan, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's application networking and security division, said the virtualization giant has “walked back from that space.”
The Distributed Services Engine that allows VMware’s flagship Cloud Foundation suite to use SmartNICs remains a part of the product and continues to receive support.
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Virtzilla’s bet on hyperscale hardware going didn’t excite customers, but may live on.
VMware has quietly stopped selling firewalls for SmartNICs.
SmartNICs, aka data processing units, are network cards that include a modest processor. Hyperscale clouds routinely use the devices to handle security and networking chores, by running network functions as VMs on the SmartNIC’s processor. Cloud operators like SmartNICs because they free CPU cores to rent to their customers.
Running some housekeeping workloads on SmartNICs can also improve isolation and security – AWS often points to the benefits of its “Nitro” system which relies on SmartNICs.
Back when it was an independent company, VMware guessed that its customers would also appreciate borrowing from hyperscalers’ approach to hardware and therefore adapted its hypervisor to run on the SmartNICs so they could host network functions.
At its VMware Explore conference earlier this month, Umesh Mahajan, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's application networking and security division, said the virtualization giant has “walked back from that space.”
Mahajan said VMware was able to get its wares running on SmartNICs from AMD and Nvidia but tried with Intel hardware.
The Distributed Services Engine that allows VMware’s flagship Cloud Foundation suite to use SmartNICs remains a part of the product and continues to receive support.
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