Intel launches into barefoot networks – TechCrunch



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Barefoot Networks was hailed as a company that would transform the generation of a generation of computing giants such as Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft while ensuring that chip makers like Intel and networking companies like that Cisco notice

Now, Intel not only became aware of it, it acquired Barefoot Networks for an undisclosed amount.

This is a sign of the growing importance of cloud computing and an opportunity for Intel to further claim the network sector after giving ground to GPU manufacturers whose chipsets are in demand since the rise of games, graphics and artificial reading software. intelligence made them ascending.

The Barefoot Networks chips essentially allow its customers to program the features they need on the network chips sold by Barefoot.

In the past, organizations could customize the network architecture to set everything apart from the chipset. The lack of programmable chips meant that network architectures could not be as responsive as a company like Facebook. Microsoft or Google would like because they always worked around chipsets designed for specific functions.

Based in Santa Clara, California, Barefoot Networks was quietly launched in late 2016 by Dr. Craig Barratt, a former member of Stanford University. Professor whose work has been essential to the development of network architectures that have allowed Alphabet, Facebook and others to practice on the huge scale they have now.

While these companies were demanding more custom hardware, ranging from chipsets to allow their various machine learning algorithms to manage and monitor content (and Win Go games), to the servers and routers they installed in their own internal networks, Barratt realized he needed chipsets that they could modify.

With this acquisition, Intel adds a core set of knowledge on programmable high-speed p4 data paths, silicon switch development, P4 compilers, software drivers, network telemetry and computer networks.

It also provides another bulwark against the rival chip maker, Broadcom .

No word from Barefoot Networks investors about the outcome of this acquisition. The company raised $ 155.4 million from investors, including Tencent Holdings DHVC, Alibaba Group, Dell Capital Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lightspeed Ventures.

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