Integration Options
Data Connection software is extremely modular in design, with published interfaces: customizable macro interfaces to the operating system services and asynchronous, message-based interfaces between the components. This design enables the software to be readily integrated with any operating system and underlying hardware, as well as custom user applications, third-party components, and legacy systems.
Data Connection partners with third-party organizations to supply integrated solutions that combine each party's technology and minimize the integration effort and risk for our customers. In conjunction with its partners, Data Connection can provide an extensive range of example code and pre-integrated solutions. This includes an out-of-the-box software router for Linux, which provides integration with all the necessary complementary components to create a complete multi-protocol router.
Data Connection's portable protocol software products are available separately and as pre-integrated control plane solutions for different applications. Further details on these applications are described in Integrated Control Plane Solutions.
Management Interface Integration
All Data Connection products use a common interface for management and configuration. This can easily be mapped onto a wide range of management tools and has been used by our customers for integration with CLI, GUI and SMNP management suites. We can also supply pre-integrated CLI, XML/Web and SNMP management interfaces using embeddedMIND™ from our partner Silicon & Software Systems (S3).
As well as supporting the standards-defined management and configuration options, for example the MIBs defined by the IETF, all management operations are controlled through this interface.
Operating System Integration
All of the products share the same N-BASE portability environment, which ensures that they are fully portable. Click here for further information on the N-BASE. Pre-ported solutions are provided for popular embedded operating systems including Chorus, Integrity, Linux, LynxOS, Nucleus, OSE©, pSOS©, QNX, Solaris / SunOS, UNIX©, VxWorks / VxWorks / Tornado©, Windows, and proprietary OSes. These standard ports may also be used as the model for other operating systems; our customers have used this model to port our products to almost every operating system and hardware platform available.
IP Stack Integration
The asynchronous, message-based interfaces to the underlying IP transport allow the products to be efficiently integrated in all system architectures. We provide integration with the standard IP stack for each operating system as part of our standard N-BASE ports, and with the standard sockets API used by the majority of IP stacks. See our partners page for more information on support for third-party IP stacks.
Data Plane Integration
For performance reasons, Data Plane functionality is normally closely integrated with the communications hardware, so most chipsets are supplied with their own Layer 1 & 2 drivers. All of Data Connection's portable protocol software uses carefully designed interfaces that can be easily integrated with these drivers. These interfaces are implemented using an asynchronous message-based paradigm, thereby allowing complete flexibility of data plane design. This includes distributed data planes and programming backup data planes when resilience is required.
For some products and environments, Data Connection is able to supply complete reference data plane implementations.