Enterprise Switch Software Development for Virtual Cash Register Server

Client

A large European company providing virtual cash register servers for rent.

Challenge

To develop software for an enterprise switch for a virtual cash register. We aimed to add a VRF or VRF-lite software module with a maximum of 3-4 instances. The customer has VRF-lite-supported hardware with the SparX-5 microchip but no ready-to-use software.

Solution

Our engineering team selected IStaX SDK from Microchip as the main software package.

We implemented the VRF technology for third-party applications such as RADIUS and SNMP and also extended the SNMP tree (MIB/OID) for enhanced monitoring and management. 

Our development efforts resulted in a virtual cash register server that can handle up to 200Gbps of traffic forwarding (L2/L3) and Ethernet ports up to 25Gbps. These opportunities became available thanks to a 1 GHz dual-core Arm processor and PoE PSE ICs that are forward-compatible with IEEE 802.3bt. The IStaX-managed software is based on the Linux operating system.

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This server features the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for dynamic routing, which enables efficient communication between different networks. Additionally, we implemented the Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) protocol, which enhances network reliability and improves fault detection.

To configure the new functionality we added, we included new SNMP OIDs, CLI commands, and web page fields for ease of use. These features enable simple, intuitive configuration and management of the virtual cash register server.

Business Value

Thanks to our engineering support, our customer increased the size of their virtual server and offered their services to a larger number of customers. This solution can also be integrated with other systems to simplify financial reporting and accounting.