Pensando Systems Inc., a startup that emerged from stealth mode late last year, has built its Distributed Services Platform to provide software-defined services at the server edge. The heart of the Pensando platform is its custom, programmable P4 processor called Capri, which supports distributed networking, storage and security services, according to Mario Baldi (pictured), distinguished technologist at Pensando.

“Pensando is offering a platform that is a completely turnkey solution,” Baldi said. “Basically the platform … is a controller with which the user interacts. Using an intent-based paradigm, the user defines policies, and the controller is going to push those policies to the card … in your data center.”

Baldi spoke with Stu Miniman, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during Pensando’s Future Proof Your Enterprise event. They discussed Pensando’s platform, how P4 continues to evolve, and how Pensando is using it’s technology to help businesses navigate at the edge. (* Disclosure below.)

P4 programming is simple for fast, adaptable networking

P4 is a programming language for packet processors that doesn’t start from assuming that one wants to use certain products, according to Baldi. So, P4 allows one to specify what packets look like — i.e., what the headers look like and how they can be parsed — and is specifically designed for packet processing.

“It’s based on the idea that you want to look up values in tables, so it allows you to define tables in keys that are being used to look up those tables and find an entry in the table,” Baldi described. “When you find an entry, that entry contains an action in parameters to be used for that action. So the idea is that the packet descriptions that you have in the program define how the packets should be processed.”

When the appropriate entry in the table is found, the program specifies a sequence of tables that are being looked up and header fields being modified in the end. This is very powerful for a number of reasons, according to Baldi.

“It’s simple, which is always good … especially in networking,” Baldi said. “Then it maps very well on what we need to do when we do packet processing, so writing a packet processing program is relatively easy and fast. And, last but not least, P4 really maps well on hardware that was designed specifically to process packets — what we call … domain specific processors.”

When IT has these processes achieving a good throughput, it can efficiently take P4 and compile it to execute at a very high speed on those processes, according to Baldi. Pesando has adapted a card called Pensando Distributed Services Card that is built around an ASIC and has very versatile architecture with its Capri platform.

“It’s fully programmable at various levels. It has two network interfaces, so it can be used as a network adapter — but in reality because the card is fully programmable and it has several processors inside, it can be used to implement very sophisticated services — things that you wouldn’t even dream of doing with the typical network adapter,” Baldi concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Pensando’s Future Proof Your Enterprise event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Future Proof Your Enterprise event. Neither Pensando Systems Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE