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Broadcom Expands Ethernet Switch Software Suite with Industry’s First Fully Open Source Software Development Kit

January 30, 2018 By BlueAlly

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Open APIs and source code of the Ethernet Switch Software Development Kit accelerate development and deployment of networking stacks SAN JOSE, Calif. , January 30, 2018 Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO), today announced the immediate availability of SDKLT, the industry’s first fully open source Software Development Kit (SDK) for Ethernet switch ASICs.  SDKLT offers a revolutionary table-driven approach to configure Ethernet switch ASICs, and is built to accelerate the software development of high-performance networking infrastructure.  The release of SDKLT further establishes Broadcom’s position as the market leader in not only providing Ethernet switch silicon, but also in delivering an open, scalable, and high-performance switch SDK. By offering a complete open source SDK, Broadcom takes a significant step forward towards fulfilling the vision of an entirely open networking ecosystem. Now, hardware vendors, network OS providers, and SDN controller developers can readily build and customize their switch APIs. They can also freely redistribute their enhancements and leverage the community to quickly deliver high-quality solutions to the market. The innovative logical table-based approach used in SDKLT greatly simplifies the task of configuring the feature-rich Ethernet switch silicon in use today. With this approach, all device physical resources such as MAC Address Tables, L3 route tables, etc. are presented to users as explicitly defined logical tables instead of specific function calls. The new switch software approach empowers data center operators with greater control over their infrastructure resources. SDKLT introduces new ways to monitor, analyze, and provision switch resources, all through the use of industry standard automation tools. Network OS and SDN applications will benefit from this new level of operational efficiencies which are realized through the flexible transaction management, device resource visibility, and performance improvements offered by SDKLT. “We are delighted to announce another industry first with our fully open source SDKLT to accelerate the development and deployment of Broadcom’s switch silicon,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager of switching products. “SDKLT brings a fresh, state-of-the-art software development approach to the broader community of network software developers where they can now fully and directly control and monitor the rich switch feature set optimized for SDN and cloud use cases.” The first open source offering of SDKLT is based on the BCM56960 Tomahawk® switch, the industry’s most popular data center ToR and fabric device, and is supported by a wide and robust group of ecosystem partners.  SDKLT open source code is now available on GitHub and the logical table APIs are Apache 2.0 licensed.  This enables users to build, customize, and share innovation across a wide range of switch platforms and developers. Key Attributes and Benefits of the New SDKLT Software: - Open source code and the logical table APIs are released under Apache 2.0 license - Device behavior is managed by logical tables via small set of APIs - Logical table APIs designed to readily support RPC-able client-server model - Full device provisioning and control through automation (CLI, Yaml, XML, etc.) - Performance optimized software architecture - High visibility and control over device resources provides optimal resource management - Flexible transaction management with comprehensive support for batched or atomic operations via single API call - Architected for High Availability (HA) including support for Soft Error Recovery, Warmboot, and In Service Upgrade

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