STAC Network I/O Research Program
Background
To date, most of STAC's research on network technology has been in the context of complete solution stacks, including off-the-shelf software such as messaging middleware or exchange feed handlers. However, trading firms often write performance-sensitive trading applications or home-grown middleware directly to a network API. There has therefore been demand from STAC Benchmark Council members for STAC to create research and tools that focus directly on the network stack. We have responded to this demand with three new offerings.
New offerings
1. Tools. We have created vendor-neutral and technology-neutral network test-harness software ("STAC-N") and collaborated with industry leaders such as Mellanox, Solarflare, and the RDMA experts at the University of New Hampshire to bind the harness to Sockets, RDMA, and RDS.
2. Research. We have used the software above in an initial project ("STAC Network API Study A") to research the tradeoffs in performance, programming complexity, and resource utilization of the network APIs above and some of their leading implementations on both 10 GbE and QDR InfiniBand. Click here for more background.
3. Community. We are now calling for participation in a STAC Network I/O SIG. This group will provide feedback on the study, the binding source code, and priorities for further research and tool development.
Click here to watch Peter Lankford, Director of STAC, discuss these offerings.
What you get
The STAC Network API Study A will provide you with several items from the STAC Vault:
- A 41-page summary report.
- 23 detailed benchmark reports.
- A CSV file with the summary latency statistics, to enable your to compare the tested configurations yourself.
The STAC-N Test Harness will provide you with:
- The test harness binaries.
- Source code to the bindings for UDP, TCP, RDMA (several interfaces), and RDS.
- A quick-start readme plus more extensive documentation.
The STAC Network I/O SIG will provide you with:
- The opportunity to ask questions about and provide feedback on this study and the source code to the bindings.
- Influence over the priorities for further research and development.
- If supported by the group, participation in a formal STAC Benchmark Council process to progress STAC-N as a standard STAC Benchmark.
Eligibility
End-user firms: These materials are only available to premium members of the STAC Benchmark Council and are not available as a complimentary report. If your firm is not a premium member or you're not sure, feel free to complete the form below, and we'll contact you. If your firm has an appropriate membership, we will permission you within one business day to download the research materials, and if you request the test harness softwar, we will send a small amendment to your Council agreement entitling you to them for no additional charge.
Vendors: We also encourage vendor participation in this initiative, and have ways to make the materials available for no charge. Please complete the form below, and we will be in touch within one business day.
Request Form
I would like to access these materials. I understand that they are subject to a strict confidentiality agreement between my firm and STAC that prevents further disclosure.
I confirm that I am employed by the firm represented on this form and will only use or access this content for as long as I am employed by this firm.
To date, most of STAC's research on network technology has been in the context of complete solution stacks, including off-the-shelf software such as messaging middleware or exchange feed handlers. However, trading firms often write performance-sensitive trading applications or home-grown middleware directly to a network API. There has therefore been demand from STAC Benchmark Council members for STAC to create research and tools that focus directly on the network stack. We have responded to this demand with three new offerings.
New offerings
1. Tools. We have created vendor-neutral and technology-neutral network test-harness software ("STAC-N") and collaborated with industry leaders such as Mellanox, Solarflare, and the RDMA experts at the University of New Hampshire to bind the harness to Sockets, RDMA, and RDS.
2. Research. We have used the software above in an initial project ("STAC Network API Study A") to research the tradeoffs in performance, programming complexity, and resource utilization of the network APIs above and some of their leading implementations on both 10 GbE and QDR InfiniBand. Click here for more background.
3. Community. We are now calling for participation in a STAC Network I/O SIG. This group will provide feedback on the study, the binding source code, and priorities for further research and tool development.
What you get
The STAC Network API Study A will provide you with several items from the STAC Vault:
- A 41-page summary report.
- 23 detailed benchmark reports.
- A CSV file with the summary latency statistics, to enable your to compare the tested configurations yourself.
The STAC-N Test Harness will provide you with:
- The test harness binaries.
- Source code to the bindings for UDP, TCP, RDMA (several interfaces), and RDS.
- A quick-start readme plus more extensive documentation.
The STAC Network I/O SIG will provide you with:
- The opportunity to ask questions about and provide feedback on this study and the source code to the bindings.
- Influence over the priorities for further research and development.
- If supported by the group, participation in a formal STAC Benchmark Council process to progress STAC-N as a standard STAC Benchmark.
Eligibility
End-user firms: These materials are only available to premium members of the STAC Benchmark Council and are not available as a complimentary report. If your firm is not a premium member or you're not sure, feel free to complete the form below, and we'll contact you. If your firm has an appropriate membership, we will permission you within one business day to download the research materials, and if you request the test harness softwar, we will send a small amendment to your Council agreement entitling you to them for no additional charge.
Vendors: We also encourage vendor participation in this initiative, and have ways to make the materials available for no charge. Please complete the form below, and we will be in touch within one business day.
I would like to access these materials. I understand that they are subject to a strict confidentiality agreement between my firm and STAC that prevents further disclosure.
I confirm that I am employed by the firm represented on this form and will only use or access this content for as long as I am employed by this firm.