What is ENPAQ?

ENPAQ is a flexible and highly customizable software solution delivering comprehensive networking, application delivery and management features. The solution is based on open-source vendor neutral components, unified using Elina’s unique distributed management framework. ENPAQ leverages commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) x86 hardware ensuring that enterprises are the benefited by the advances in computing architectures and associated costs.

Do I have to be familiar with Linux to use ENPAQ?

No. The ENPAQ boots and operates in much the same way as other networking solutions and includes a web—based GUI that simplifies operations and configurations. Customers need never enter the Linux shell or type Linux commands.

What hardware do I need to run ENPAQ?

ENPAQ is designed to be hosted on a standard x86 hardware. The base system system needs a minimum of 512MB RAM, 40GB Disk Space, and a 1GHz CPU. A CD-ROM or USB Port can be used for installing the software. A VGA monitor and PS/2 or USB keyboard are helpful during install but are not required to run the system in production.

Are x86 platforms fast and reliable enough to perform networking functions?

Definitely! The x86 processors designed and manufactured by Intel, AMD, VIA and others, are some of the fastest processors available. In fact, processor clock frequency increased from 50 Mhz in 1990 to 3Ghz 2006. The computer I/O bus architecture moved up from ISA at 8Mhz, 8Mbytes per second to PCI-Express at 2.5Ghz, 500Mbytes per second. Added to these significant developments is Redundant Array of Independent Drives (RAID), a way of storing the same data in different places on multiple hard disks, which enhances he mean time between failures (MTBF).Now, with significant maturity available in all these technologies, there is a way we can leverage this to create a cost-effective and reliable networking infrastructure..

Some networking systems are "specialized hardware" solutions. Why is ENPAQ different?

Although some networking equipment does include special-purpose ASICS or FPGA for routing, the advanced in x86 based systems and processors have ensured that we can achieve comparable—or better— performance. It is generally true that highest levels of performance can be achieved using specialized hardware, the question to as is “Do I need that level of performance?”

The flip side to specialized hardware is lack of flexibility. ASICs are expensive, inflexible and cannot easily be reprogrammed to include the latest features or protocol changes. Nor do these specialized systems offer a cost effective way of migrating to higher level of performance, when the needs change.

How do I get ENPAQ Software?

A live CD image of the ENPAQ Software is available for download