Content-Processing: Rebuilding CPUs For Speed

To date, the manner of addressing such bottlenecks has been less than ideal--either too expensive or too inflexible. Typically, you'll see more hardware thrown at the problem, obviously not the most palatable solution in today's flagging economy. The other option is a specialized acceleration chip that OEMs and systems builders can plug into server or appliance motherboards to boost performance-addled systems. Its main drawback is rigidity: It cannot be programmed or upgraded externally. So if you need to adjust your acceleration chip to a new type of application demand, you have to pull it out and put in a new one.

The good news is that a less intrusive, more flexible acceleration approach is emerging that could soon eclipse both of the mechanisms described above. Accelerated content processing is a software solution that augments the capabilities of a general-purpose CPU by assuming some of its more repetitive and time-consuming network-processing functions and application algorithms--and running them at a faster speed. According to the proponents of the technology, the CPU is freed up, while throughput and performance are boosted.

For example, used to accelerate antivirus software, the content processor would be deployed to the edge of the network on an appliance, server or gateway. There it will scan for viruses and do the heavy lifting of decompression, decoding and encryption of e-mail attachments. This method also allows virus scanning to take place more efficiently at the message and application layers--as opposed to the packet layer--which, in turn, enables the examination of the crucial payloads of message content.

Tarari On the Scene
One company driving this trend is Tarari, a start-up that spun off from Intel last August after landing some scarce venture-capital funding. Tarari has developed a line of general-content processors priced between $2,500 and $5,000 in low volumes for OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs). At NetWorld Interop last month, the company unveiled two more-targeted products--one tailored for antivirus applications and one for XML processing. Both will be available next month.

Company executives liken their content-processing capabilities to the skills of today's generation of advanced race-car pit crews. Just as the pit crews accomplish a whole host of tasks, such as changing tires and oil simultaneously, the content processor helps the core CPU attend to many tasks in parallel. In addition, like pit-crew members, content processors are also fully trainable and can quickly change how they work to accommodate new technologies or standards.

"What we are doing is combining the speed of a specialized processor with the flexibility of a programmable CPU," says Dave Finlay, vice president of marketing and business development at Tarari, San Diego. "So when you do upgrades or feature enhancements, it can be done without having to forklift the processor out and then putting it back in."

Tarari's content-processing offering is a combined software/hardware solution that resides on a PCI-X card subsystem ISVs can insert into any Intel appliance or server. Once the cards are integrated into a systems builder's manufacturing process, ISVs can preload the content-processing software so the systems have the right drivers. The optimal motherboard configuration is a dual 2.6-GHz Pentium 4, according to Finlay.

The company says that plugging its cards into critical points on the network will reduce the number of necessary servers and appliances from three to one.

Tarari's solution also comes with a software-development kit that lets ISVs adapt applications to the content processor or develop entirely new applications that work in tune with the acceleration software. One such ISV is Pleasanton, Calif.-based Ositis Software, which builds a software-based antivirus appliance called AV Stripper. Ositis is in the process of incorporating the Tarari board into its appliance to accelerate the scanning, decompression and decoding of attachments. Tarari's new AntiVirus Content Processor (named "Best Start-Up Product" at N I; see www.varbusiness.com) will work in conjunction with the AV engines within the appliance, helping to speed performance and also conduct more applications tasks at once, according to Tarari CEO Vilis Ositis.

"One of the big challenges of putting antivirus software on the network is the drain of performance because it is very CPU-intensive," he says. "The main benefits [of Tarari] for AV vendors is that their engine locates viruses more quickly, especially those that are HTML-based."

Ositis says the initial tests his company has done with the Tarari board have generated an 80 percent to 90 percent speed improvement for decoding and decompressing e-mail. Likewise, the scanning of HTML messages has seen 50 percent gains in performance, he says. "Antivirus is moving quickly from the desktop to network," Ositis says. "So ensuring performance is of paramount importance to us."

Churning XML
The increasing proliferation of XML in the enterprise is undoubtedly a big step forward for moving data around disparate systems and integrating applications. But it has also been a drain on CPU processing power, as networks endeavor to process bloated XML files that possess complex nesting and parsing requirements. The Tarari XML Content Processor, which the company expects to ship to OEMs next month, is aimed at streamlining the movements of XML around the network.

Company officials say this version of the content processor will help solve some of the XML-processing challenges by accelerating XML content at the message and application layers. ISVs and systems developers can use the product to better manage and control XML traffic, Tarari's Finlay says.

Tarari is aiming its XML solution at the raft of XML-aware proxy appliances companies, as well as the core app server platforms such as WebSphere, SunOne and WebLogic. The company sees further opportunities for content processors to accelerate other CPU-intensive applications, such as those used in genome research and image processing.

The need for speed and high-level processing is not going away anytime soon, according to one industry analyst. "XML messages are just huge, and virus-scanning can go on so long you can go get your breakfast and come back," says Sidnie Feit, chief scientist at The Standish Group, Yarmouth, Mass.

Feit likened the content-processing approach to downloadable firmware in terms of flexibility and speed, with the main benefits coming from the ability to distribute processing tasks to run in parallel on the chip board.

"It gives you the ability to have 20 operations going at once, all at wire-speed," she says.

Up Close
Tarari AntiVirus And XML Content Processors

• Processor sits on PCI bus card
• 64-bit/66-MHz or 32-bit/33-MHz bus widths and speed
• 256 MB of on-board DDR memory
• Bus-master DMA support
• Supports Linux kernel 2.4.9 and later, Windows 2000, .Net Server 2003, and Windows XP*

*XP support in AntiVirus product only
Source: Tarari

Vendor Contact
Tarari
San Diego, Calif.
www.tarari.com\ (858) 385-5131