Design of a scalable network programming framework

Abstract

Nearly all programmable commercial hardware solutions offered for high-speed networking systems are capable of meeting the performance and flexibility requirements of equipment vendors. However, the primary obstacle to adoption lies with the software architectures and programming environments supported by these systems. Shortcomings include use of unfamiliar languages and libraries, portability and backwards compatibility, vendor lock-in, design and development learning curve, availability of competent developers, and a small existing base of software. Another key shortcoming of previous architectures is that either they are not multi-core oriented or they expose all the hardware details, making it very hard for programmers to deal with. In this paper, we present a practical software architecture for high-speed embedded systems that is portable, easy to learn and use, multicore oriented, and efficient.