Larch Networks helps to transition proprietary system, bound to single vendor hardware to a truly disaggregated approach with vendor agnostic SAI interface.

USE CASE
USE CASE 1

Intro

A crucial part of a global Fortune 500 corporation that serves Information and Communications Technology, rooted in open technology and makes communications networks faster, secure, and more autonomous and sustainable, at lower total cost of ownership. They bring the power of Digital Transformation (DX) to the network operators, Communications Service Providers (CSPs), and internet content providers that keep the world connected. Combining 30-plus years of expertise in multi vendor network technology with customer service excellence and best-in-class network hardware, software, and services as they design, build, operate, and maintain the critical infrastructure for wireless and wireline networks. They sought to move their NOS solution from a single ASIC/SDK bound to a truly disaggregated system with the help of the open Switch Abstraction Interface, while working on the modern challenges of the switching systems.

Solution

Larch Networks long history of SAI adaptation and experience:

  1. SAI Adaptor Host: Larch implemented the SAI Adaptor Host, seamlessly integrating customer’s proprietary ESAL southbound interface with Marvell Ethernet switches. This integration ensured that the company is now able to use any SAI supported ASIC with the adequate developed driver with an already working solution on a Marvell hardware platform.
  2. Warm reboot: Larch’s integrated ‘warm reboot’ feature that is invaluable in the current communication reality. During instances when the network switches face issues, this feature ensures that the network traffic remains consistent. This allows to reboot and restart the device without completely shutting down and power cycling without disruptions in network traffic. The warm restart feature implemented by Larch provides solid High Availability support for various switch attributes in comparison to a regular HA mechanism in usual SDK.
  3. Enhanced System Stability: Larch’s integrated SAI and ESAL layers test framework was a game-changer. It not only automated the testing process, but also drastically minimized bugs. It made the system more stable overall during the development phase, and minimized bugs in the field.

The implemented performance enhancements for initialization of the Marvell Prestera switch, including both hard and warm restart paths resulted in 25% performance enhancement for the initialization of the switch.

Outcome

Thanks to Larch Networks, the customer is now capable of porting their NOS system to a range of SAI supported hardware. In addition to that, the High Availability and Testing suite will allow rapid feature development in the future. The customer could confidently continue its expansion, knowing its network solutions development would be robust and reliable.