Metamako has launched a new series of networking devices capable of supporting up to 3 powerful FPGAs on a single 1RU or 2RU device. These are the most powerful FPGA-based platforms in their class, designed for enormous processing power and speed.
Metamako’s new offering is capable of running multiple performance-sensitive applications on a single device. For example, while one FPGA may be streaming data in real-time to capture all the data flowing through the network, a second FPGA might be running a real-time security application looking for anomalies in the traffic. At the same time, the third might be performing a related data analytics or machine learning application. Alternatively, all three FPGAs can be programmed to operate in concert, bringing the combined power to bear on a single task.
Metamako’s new range of devices leverages the latest FPGAs from Xilinx, the Kintex UltraScale and the Virtex UltraScale+. Clients deploying the triple FPGA solution will benefit from near-zero latency links between each FPGA, and will see significantly reduced latency, compared with FPGAs connected via serial links.
Dr. Dave Snowdon, CTO of Metamako, says: “Having a triple FPGA configuration means a huge amount of power, and the ability to run several applications in parallel, very quickly. Traditionally our devices have been used in the financial markets for their ultra-low latency and very high degree of determinism, but they can now be used across many other industries, such as medical imaging, software defined radio, industrial control and telecommunications, to name but a few. These cutting-edge FPGA devices give application developers the ability to avoid off-chip RAM, providing a leap in the performance of their FPGA-based applications.”
Kevin Covington, CEO of Metamako, says: “Metamako launched its first device in 2013, and we now have an established global presence and an excellent track record in the financial markets, arguably one of the most demanding environments. With the launch of the triple FPGA we feel that we have a huge amount to offer to other verticals, as it marks our move into a significantly more powerful and faster FPGA-enabled networking and applications platforms.”
Metamako’s ground-breaking approach provides a sophisticated network solution, which is much simpler and considerably more convenient to implement compared to the traditional approach of using FPGAs embedded on PCI Express cards, thanks to having multiple components embedded in a single device.
All Metamako devices come with an extensive range of features, such as data fan-out, scalable broadcast, connection monitoring, patching, tapping, time-stamping and deterministic port-to-FPGA latency of just 3 nanoseconds, which can be leveraged, including between the FPGAs.
Metamako’s latest offering comes with a developer’s kit, which includes information and example designs for in-house application development on the new devices.
