Napatech has introduced its new 5G User Plane Function (UPF) offload solution, delivering a 60% performance boost using its NT400D13 SmartNIC. Powered by Altera’s Agilex 7 FPGA, the NT400D13 can handle up to 185 million concurrent flows and processes over 297 million packets per second, providing 2x 100G wire speed with sub-4 microsecond latency. This SmartNIC upgrade significantly enhances UPF processing, a key workload in virtualized 5G packet core networks.
The NT400D13’s improvements allow telecom operators and enterprises to support more users per server while cutting energy use in edge data centers. With ongoing financial pressure to optimize infrastructure, this hardware-software solution offers a robust alternative to traditional server CPUs, which struggle with real-time packet processing demands. Napatech’s UPF offload strategy aligns with the broader trend of using accelerator cards to enhance 5G core efficiency.
Napatech has partnered with major 5G core software suppliers and hardware manufacturers, including Lenovo, Supermicro, and A5G Networks, to ensure broad ecosystem support. These partnerships aim to maximize the benefits of the NT400D13’s capabilities, improving power efficiency, reducing operational costs, and scaling deployment in 5G telecom and private networks.
Key Points:
• Processes 185 million concurrent flows and over 297 million packets per second.
• Supports full 2x 100G wire speed with less than 4-microsecond latency.
• 60% performance boost compared to previous platforms.
• Ecosystem partners include Lenovo, Supermicro, and A5G Networks.
“Launching UPF offload on the NT400D13 SmartNIC extends the business-level benefits that our ecosystem partners can deliver to network operators”, said Charlie Ashton, Senior Director of Business Development at Napatech. “In a representative Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) use case that we analyzed, the performance of the NT400D13 enabled an operator to support 22 times as many users per server than with a software-based UPF, leading to reductions of 95% in power consumption, 92% in CAPEX and 95% in OPEX for the edge data center.”
