Accelerate Your Network Applications to 10 Gbps on Edge device with SocketXpress

As edge computing applications scale, the demand for 10Gbps throughput is becoming the new standard. However, developers often hit a “CPU wall”—the Linux networking stack simply cannot keep up with 10Gbps speeds, often capping out around 3 Gbps while consuming most of the CPU.

At Design Gateway, we’re introducing SocketXpress – a drop-in solution that accelerates TCP/IP applications from ~3 Gbps to 9.4 Gbps on the AMD Kria KR260, all without recompiling a single line of code.

⚙️Key Highlights from the Demo

Platform: AMD Kria KR260
Zero Code Changes: Use the LD_PRELOAD mechanism to redirect standard socket calls.
CPU Freedom: Free up resources for your primary edge applications.
Performance Gain: 3x throughput improvement from Linux network socket.
Compatibility: Works seamlessly with various applications including iperf, MySQL databases, large file transfers (scp/ftp), Git operations, web services (curl/wget), and others.

✅ The SocketXpress Solution

SocketXpress is a custom Linux network socket library that seamlessly integrates with our TOE10GLL-IP (TCP Offload Engine). Using the LD_PRELOAD mechanism, it intercepts standard POSIX socket API calls and transparently redirects TCP operations to hardware acceleration—no source code changes required.

🌐Compatibility

We’ve tested SocketXpress with various popular applications to demonstrate its compatibility.

iperf
v2.1.5, 3.9
Established connection to Iperf server and performed bandwidth performance tests

lynx
v2.9.0
Browsed web content and navigated to external sites

curl
v7.81.0
Retrieved web pages from public websites

telnet
v0.17-44
Connected to remote server and executed basic terminal commands

wget
v1.21.2
Downloaded web pages and files from remote servers

ssh
v8.9p1
Established secure connection to remote server and executed basic commands

scp
v8.9p1
SCP file upload and download operations

ftp
v20210827-4
FTP file upload and download operations

git
v2.34.1
Cloned remote repository and checked out branches

mysql
v8.0.43
Connected to MySQL database server and queried data

links
v2.25
Browsed web content and navigated to external sites

🔍 Visualizing the Speed Gap

Our testing with iperf shows dramatic improvements:

That’s 3.6x faster receive performance and 2.6x faster transmit performance, while reducing CPU overhead – freeing up resources for your actual application logic.

Real-World Compatibility

We’ve tested SocketXpress with various popular applications to demonstrate its compatibility. Some examples include:

Application Name	Version	Test Scenario
iperf	2.1.5 3.9	Established connection to Iperf server and performed bandwidth performance tests
lynx	2.9.0	Browsed web content and navigated to external sites
curl	7.81.0	Retrieved web pages from public websites
telnet	0.17-44	Connected to remote server and executed basic terminal commands
wget	1.21.2	Downloaded web pages and file from remote servers
ssh	8.9pl	Established secure connection to remote server and executed basic commands
scp	8.9p1	SCP file upload and download operations
ftp	20210827.4	FTP file upload and download operations
git	2.34.1	Cloned remote repository and checked out branches
mysql	8.0.43	Connected to MySQL database server and queried data
links	2.25	Browsed web content and navigated to external sites

🤝The Challenge

Edge devices running network-intensive applications face critical bottlenecks:

The Linux kernel’s TCP/IP stack consumes significant CPU resources at high speeds
Standard implementations cap out around 3 Gbps, wasting 10G Ethernet capability
Traditional solutions require complex application rewrites or specialized programming models

⚡Ready to Experience 10GbE Performance?

Stop letting software bottlenecks limit your edge applications. SocketXpress unlocks true 10GbE performance without the complexity.

Getting started is incredibly simple: