8.0

Table Of Contents
Introducing VMware vSphere
Distributed Services Engine and
Networking Acceleration by Using
DPUs
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vSphere 8.0 enables breakthrough workload performance to meet the throughput and latency
needs of modern distributed workloads by accelerating networking functions on data processing
units (DPUs). With vSphere Distributed Services Engine, infrastructure services are distributed
across the different compute resources available on the ESXi host, with networking functions
offloaded to the DPU.
Modern applications are developed using a microservices architecture approach, which seeks to
break down the application into multiple independent but cooperating services. This increased
complexity places new demand for the CPU. For example, processing storage requests or
shuttling network traffic for these microservices leaves fewer CPU cycles for the actual workload.
In this context, purpose-built accelerators such as DPUs can take on the new compute burden and
help you improve the performance and efficiency of infrastructure.
With vSphere Distributed Services Engine, DPUs can accelerate the performance of your network
and increase data throughput, while placing no operational burden of managing the lifecycle of
DPUs, as the existing Day-0, Day-1, and Day-2 vSphere experience does not change. At launch,
vSphere Distributed Services Engine is supported by DPUs from NVIDIA and AMD, and server
designs from Dell and HPE. vSphere Distributed Services Engine is available on servers with
pre-installed DPUs. You cannot install DPUs separately in your environment or use Distributed
Services Engine without pre-installed DPUs.
VMware, Inc.
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