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ARM64 Open Network Appliance

ET2500

Open Intelligent Bare Metal Gateway Based on Marvell OCTEON 10 CN102 Chip 

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The above modules can be mixed and matched, custom combinations are available. Please send us emails for more detailed information!

  • 8 x 2.7GHz ARM64 Neoverse N2 Core
  • 16GB pluggable DDR5 SO-DIMM, up to 128G
  • 4 x 10GE, 4 x 2.5GE and 8 x 1GE, optional 8 x 1GE PoE+, 4 x 2.5GE PoE++ @150W budget
  • True inline crypto engine; Optional M.2 SSD up to 4TB
  • Optional AI hardware accelerator with 26TOPS INT8 inference performance
  • 2 pluggable modules with M.2 form, extending support 5G/LTE, WiFi6E/7, BlueTooth5.3, GNSS, TPM(Trusted Platform Module), etc.
  • Optional PTP module with 20ns accuracy and BC support, featuring holdover > 8 hours
  • 60Gbps intelligent data processing for routing, firewall, IPSec and SSL/TLS
  • <60 Watt with FULL configuration and workload (w/o PoE)
ET2500 intelligent gateway 3
ET2500 intelligent gateway 4
ET2500 intelligent gateway 1
ET2500 intelligent gateway 2

8 Core ARM 64-bit Neoverse N2 Open Intelligent Gateway Based on Marvell OCTEON 10 CN102 Chip (Router+Firewall+VPN+Network Analyzers+Load Balancers Integrated into One)

The Asterfusion ET2500 is a bare metal intelligent gateway designed to meet the sophisticated networking demands of modern enterprises. With the rapid growth of cloud computing, big data, live broadcasting, AI, and IoT technologies, traditional enterprise networks often require multiple dedicated devices such as routers, firewalls, VPN gateways, IDS/IPS systems, load balancers, and network traffic analyzers. This results in complex, costly, and difficult-to-maintain networks. The ET2500 simplifies this complexity by leveraging a compute and switching fusion chip within an open architecture, effectively disaggregating software from hardware. This allows enterprises to consolidate all these functions into a versatile smart device.

Application Scenarios

The Open intelligent gateway leverages an open hardware-software disaggregated architecture, combining a robust suite of open-source software for the control plane with a hardware-optimized data plane. This unique combination addresses many application scenarios and is adaptable to combined usage.

Router: Ubuntu + VPP

  • Hardware-optimized vector packet technology and DPDK accelerate data plane forwarding, delivering up to 60Gbps forwarding performance.
  • Multi-WAN load balancing across Ethernet and 5G/LTE links.
  • Comprehensive QoS policies for precise management of traffic from different users and applications.

Firewall: Ubuntu + iptables + BPFILTER

  • Flexible and efficient iptables configuration suitable for a wide range of scenarios.
  • GUFW provides a simple and user-friendly GUI.
  • BPFILTER leverages eBPF for advanced packet filtering and processing.

VPN Gateway: Ubuntu + OpenVPN/WireGuard

  • Hardware-accelerated OpenVPN with encryption/decryption engine supports up to 60Gbps throughput.
  • WireGuard benefits from an 8-core CPU for accelerated performance.
  • Installation of the latest VPN software on demand to adapt to changing network environments.

IDS/IPS: Ubuntu + Snort

  • Leading open-source IDS/IPS with continuously updated rule sets from its active open community.
  • Hardware DPDK enhances packet processing performance and reduces latency.
  • Optimized regular expression engine boosts IDS/IPS performance.

Load Balancer: Ubuntu + HAProxy + Nginx

  • Optimized regular expression engine boosts load balancing performance based on domain and URL.
  • Hardware DPDK improves processing speed and throughput.
  • Hardware SSL engine speeds up HTTPS connections.

Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA): Ubuntu + ntopng

  • Real-time traffic monitoring, protocol recognition, application analysis, historical data logging, and visual reporting capabilities.
  • Intuitive GUI for analyzing network traffic and performance metrics.
  • Hardware SSL engine accelerates HTTPS traffic analysis.

Rich Software Ecosystems

The ET2500’s versatility is made possible by its support for a wide array of open operating systems and software ecosystems, designed to accommodate any open-source software compatible with ARM64 + Linux. It offers customers a rich and flexible selection tailored to their specific needs. Whether it’s routing, security, or any other network function, the ET2500 has you covered.

Operating System

  • Supports Ubuntu, Debian, OpenWRT and other Linux distribution, such as CentOS, OpenSUSE, Arch Linux, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Linux Mint and Elementary OS.
  • Install and upgrade the OS using a USB disk with Arm Trusted Firmware and UEFI
  • Embedded eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) in Linux kernel via XDP

Supported Open Source Software

ET2500 intelligent gateway rich software ecosystem
    •  Any software for ARM64 + Linux
    • Optimized DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) tied to HW Acceleration
    • Open-source routers, including VPP (Vector Packet Processing), OpenWRT, DD-WRT, VyOS, etc.
    • Open-source IDS/IPS, including Snort, Suricata, Zeek, etc.
    • Open-source load balances, including HAProxy, Nginx, Traefik, etc.
    • Open-source VPNs, including OpenVPN, WireGuard, IPSec, L2TP, Shadowsocks, Trojan, VMess, etc.
    • PyTorch/Tensorflow/TF Lite/Keras/ONNX
    • C/C++/Python/Go/Rust/Java/Lua and other programming languages
    • Applications from other Linux distributions on Ubuntu/Debian using Docker with direct access to the host network
    • Open-source firewalls, including iptables, UFW, pfSense, OPNsense, IPFire, nftables, Firewalld, Shorewall, Untangle, etc.
    • GCC, GDB, BinUtils, Buildroot, and other tool chains
    • Open-source Network Traffic Analyzers, including ntopng, Elasticsearch + Kibana + Beats, Argus, Softflowd, etc.
    • Open-source projects consuming DPDK, including DPVS, Gatekeeper, Open vSwitch, SPDK, etc.
    • Rich VPP plugins, including Marvel device plugin, QUIC, SRv6, LLDP, NAT64, LACP, SRTP, etc.

Specification

Network interface
10GE (SFP+)4 ports2.5GE (RJ45)4 ports
1GE (RJ45)8 portsAntenna6
PoE (Option)2.5GE(PoE++), 1GE(PoE+) portsWiFi (Option)WiFi6E/7, M.2 E key
5G/LTE (Option)2 SIM cards, M.2 B key
Misc. interface
USB1 x USB3.1OOB1 x RS232 RJ45
Computing
CPU Marvell OCTEON 10 CN102
8 Core ARM64 N2 @ 2.7 GHz		RAM16GB DDR5 SODIMM, up to 48GB
CacheL2 8MB, L3 16MBFlash64GB eMMC 5.1
NVME SSD (Option)up to 4TB, M.2 M key, share slot with AI acceleratorSATA SSD (Option)up to 4TB, M.2 M key, dedicated slot
SPECint (2017)37
Network performance
L2/L3 Switching capacity60GbpsRouting capacity60Gbps
Firewall capacity60GbpsEncryption and Decryption capacity60Gbps
PTP/SyncE accuracy20nsPTP/SyncE holdover time> 8hours
Electrical characteristics
Fan2Power Module1 x 150W (w/o PoE); 1 x 270W (PoE)
Maximum power consumption60W (FULL configuration and workload)Input voltage100~240VAC
PoE budget150W
Mechanical
Operating temperature0 – 45℃Dimensions (W x H x D mm)220 x 44 x 310
Relative humidity5% - 95% (non-condensing)Height1U

Hardware Panel

ET2500 intelligent gateway hardware panel

In The Box

ET2500 intelligent gateway 5

Resource

Data Sheet

FAQs

Is this a bare metal gateway? That is, there is no software running on it?
Yes, its appeal is that you can install the open-source software you need! While it’s not a bare metal gateway in the traditional sense, being an open intelligent gateway, it comes preloaded with an underlying operating system. Choose from Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, or openWRT. Flexibility is key, allowing users to install the open-source software they need. Plus, development kits like DPDK and VPP are available on our GitHub repository for further customization.
After reading the description, I noticed that this machine has a lot of optional modules. Could you explain more?
Absolutely! This machine is designed with four pluggable M.2 form factors, allowing users to customize it according to their specific needs. Here are the available modules:
  • 5G/LTE Module: Insert a 5G SIM card to enable 5G uplink routing.
  • WiFi6E/7 Module: Add a Wi-Fi module to facilitate AP wireless functions.
  • SSD Module: Expand storage capacity up to 4TB.
  • AI Acceleration Module: Implement deep learning and AI inference functions.
In addition to these M.2 form factors, we offer optional POE and PTP functions:
  • POE Function: Our 8*1G RJ45 supports POE+ and 4*2.5G RJ45 supports POE++. All 10 ports support POE functionality, providing flexibility for power over Ethernet needs.
  • PTP Function: An optional PTP module with 20ns accuracy and BC support is available for precise time synchronization. Customers can mix and match these modules to tailor the gateway to their requirements.
I saw an optional AI acceleration module in the product introduction,Could you introduce more about it?
Yes, you are correct! One of the standout features of our product is the AI acceleration module. Specifically, we offer the Hailo-8 M.2 AI Acceleration Module. This module significantly enhances the ET2500’s capabilities by enabling efficient and comprehensive deep-learning applications. It is particularly adept at handling low-latency and efficient AI inference tasks, making it an excellent choice for advanced AI-driven projects.

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