Adtran integrates Intel NetSec Accelerator Reference Design with Ensemble Cloudlet

Adtran is integrating the Intel NetSec Accelerator Reference Design with its Ensemble Cloudlet solution to enhance edge cloud deployments with advanced security, faster data processing and improved networking performance.

With the increasing demand for robust edge cloud solutions, Intel’s reference design for expansion cards provides a flexible way to deploy encryption acceleration and compute offload capabilities. Used in combination with Ensemble Cloudlet, it gives service providers and enterprises a cost-effective and highly efficient way to meet the increasing need for modular and scalable cloud infrastructure at the network edge and customer premises.

The extension of Ensemble Cloudlet to support Intel’s technology offers a host of benefits, such as zero-touch provisioning and migration, backup and recovery capabilities for edge cloud infrastructure and access to the industry’s broadest ecosystem of pre-integrated software application partners.

“By integrating the Intel NetSec Accelerator Reference Design with our Ensemble Cloudlet, we’re providing a solution perfectly tailored for the challenges of today’s edge cloud networks. This combination not only streamlines workload hosting and bolsters network performance, but it also delivers a turnkey platform that merges scalable processing with intuitive control,” said Mike Heffner, GM of business solutions at Adtran. “Our Ensemble Harmony ecosystem, with its broad spectrum of pre-integrated software partners and support for both virtualized and containerized workloads, exemplifies our commitment to versatility. The goal is to empower operators and enterprises to efficiently roll out new services, sidestepping the need for additional server investments. This collaboration goes beyond interoperability; it’s about optimizing every facet of edge cloud deployments for our customers.”

The Intel NetSec Accelerator Reference Design delivers an advanced, Intel processor-based PCIe add-in card designed to support edge cloud processor-intensive workloads. Paired with Ensemble Cloudlet, it empowers operators to seamlessly orchestrate and manage mission-critical edge applications running on a cost-effective and scalable server. This compact server-on-a-card improves performance, scale and efficiency in enterprise and service provider edge cloud setups. It’s also ideal for security workloads such as IPsec, SSL/TLS, firewall, SASE, analytics and inferencing.

The solution can support various use cases such as network-as-a-service (NaaS), secure networking overlays including SD-WAN/SSE/ZTNA, and AI/ML processing offload. These use cases can be seamlessly dropped into existing server infrastructure within the customer’s IT environment without the need to replace or add new server equipment. The integrated platform enables operators of edge cloud infrastructure to optimize the management and control of applications through an intuitive, unified interface.

“Organizations face complex challenges at the edge with handling increasing amounts of compute processing and network traffic and constraints from space, power and thermal perspectives. Getting the best out of edge cloud deployments means utilizing flexible yet powerful hardware that works seamlessly with open and intelligent software solutions,” commented Bob Ghaffari, VP of network and edge group, and GM of enterprise and cloud network division at Intel. “Integrating our Intel NetSec Accelerator Reference Design with Ensemble Cloudlet creates a modular way to supplement existing host platforms with targeted compute capabilities that can be managed with less effort and makes it easy to accelerate network and security workloads at the edge, which can help reduce TCO.”