INTEL ADDS BAREFOOT NETWORKS

The chip manufacturer Intel, has signed an agreement to acquire the 3 years old developer of programmable Ethernet Switch Silicon for Data Centers, Barefoot Networks.

According to Intel, California-based Barefoot Networks will support its end-to-end cloud networking and infrastructure leadership, and will help Intel Data Center Group to meet the rapidly-changing needs of hyper-scale cloud customers.

“Barefoot Networks team is a great complement to our existing connectivity offerings. Barefoot Networks will add deep expertise in cloud network architectures, P4-programmable high-speed data paths, switch silicon development, P4 compilers, driver software, network telemetry and computational networking,” said Navin Shenoy, EVP and GM of the Data Center Group at Intel Corp.

Intel further stated that, this acquisition is a drive to support its data-centric solutions which the company launched in April. The solution consists of 2nd-Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Optane DC memory and storage solutions, software, and platform technologies. These solutions are optimized to help Intel’s customers analyze more data with great speed.

Intel’s latest data-centric solutions is said to target a wide range of use cases within cloud computing, network infrastructure, intelligent edge applications, and support high-growth workloads, including AI and 5G. The portfolio of products advances Intel’s data-centric strategy to pursue a massive $300 billion data-driven market opportunity, the company said.

The acquisition deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, and will have Dr. Craig Barratt – Chief Executive Officer of Barefoot Networks, and his team; join Intel’s data center group. Although, financial details of the transactions weren’t disclosed, Barefoot had however raised $155.4 million from investors which include Tencent Holdings, DHVC, Alibaba Group, Dell Technologies Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Lightspeed Ventures.

“We look forward to serving Barefoot Networks’ current customers, and to introducing its innovative programmable networking paradigm to more customers around the world,” Shenoy concludes.