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An infrastructure processing unit, or IPU, is a programmable networking device that allows cloud and communication service providers to reduce overhead and free up CPU performance.
IPUs, like SmartNICs, are designed to alleviate the complications and inefficiencies that emerge from information overload in data centres.
An IPU’s main purpose is to help clients make better use of their resources by providing a secure, configurable, and robust solution that allows them to balance processing and storage.
The Global Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU) Market accounted for $XX Billion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2030.
Intel’s first IPU combines a Xeon CPU and an FPGA, but it will eventually evolve into a powerful ASIC that can be customised and controlled using open-source Infrastructure Programmer Development Kit (IPDK) software. Customers and developers may handle network and storage virtualisation as well as task provisioning with IPDK, which runs on Linux and leverages programming tools including SPDK, DPDK, and P4.
Intel stated that it worked with Google to create Mount Evans, the chip maker’s first application-specific integrated circuit-based (ASIC) IPU. It will be backed by an “industry-standard” programming language and an open-source Infrastructure Programmer Development kit aimed to make access to Google Cloud datacenter technologies as simple as possible.
The second IPU, code-named Oak Springs Canyon, is the vendor’s next-generation FPGA, which has a Xeon D processor and an Intel Agilex FPGA for unique programmable logic networking. It supports workloads like open virtual switch (OVS) and storage functionalities like NVMe over fabric by offloading network virtualization functions.
Looking ahead, Intel announced that a third-generation IPU code-named Mount Morgan and an FPGA-based IPU code-named Hot Springs Canyon will be available in the future years, increasing IPU throughput to 400Gb.