--- title: "Turbo-charged Calico" source: "https://www.tigera.io/blog/turbo-charged-calico/" --- [Technical Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/technical-blog/) # Turbo-charged Calico By [Andrew Randall](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/andrewrandall/) on Nov 29, 2016 • 1 min read Our friends at 6WIND [recently demonstrated](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vk46v5JupE) a fantastic integration of Calico with their [Virtual Accelerator](http://www.6wind.com/products/6wind-virtual-accelerator/) product, leveraging DPDK technology for high performance networking. The following slide neatly captures what is going on: [![6Wind VA](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-12.40.48-PM.png)](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-12.40.48-PM.png) In essence, they replace the standard Linux kernel data plane that Calico uses by default with an accelerated user-space data plane. This leverages the existing Linux interfaces that Calico uses, so requires no changes to Calico in order to work. The bottom line is that Calico runs, as expected, with some impressive performance improvements: - **2x** throughput - **3x** http request rate. (Results achieved using Apache Bench + nginx on a 40Gb interface. As with all performance tests, YMMV based on your specific application and environment.) Check out this video for a demonstration: We’re excited to see vendors creatively applying their technologies to Calico, growing the ecosystem, and delivering value to end user customers! I encourage you to try it out and share your experiences with the community over on IRC or our [public Slack channel](http://slack.projectcalico.org). [Open Source](https://www.tigera.io/tags/open-source/)[Partner/Integration](https://www.tigera.io/tags/partner-integration/)[Project Calico](https://www.tigera.io/tags/project-calico/) ## Related posts [![What’s new in Calico: Spring 2026 Release](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/06/Whats-New-in-Calico-NEW-TEMPLATE-2026.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) [Company Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/company-blog/) #### [What’s new in Calico: Spring 2026 Release](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) By [Veronika Smolik](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/veronika-smolik/) on Jun 2, 2026 Kubernetes has come a long way since its debut in 2014. It’s gone from running a couple of containerized microservices to orchestrating fleets of production workloads spanning everything from AI agents to full scale VMs... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) [![Kubernetes Operational Maturity: Secure and Resilient Cluster Federation with Cluster Mesh](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/05/Kubernetes-Operational-Maturity-Secure-and-Resilient-Cluster-Federation-with-Cluster-Mesh.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) #### [Kubernetes Operational Maturity: Secure and Resilient Cluster Federation with Cluster Mesh](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) By [Veronika Smolik](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/veronika-smolik/) on May 25, 2026 Practically no one runs a single Kubernetes cluster in production these days. Maybe that’s how it started but data sovereignty requirements, acquisitions, AI initiatives and the need for edge servers, among other considerations, have pulled... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) [![What’s New in Calico v3.32](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/05/Green-Please-use-a-different-background-color-alternately-1.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/) #### [What’s New in Calico v3.32](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/) By [Reza Ramezanpour](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/rezar/) on May 13, 2026 We’re excited to announce the release of Calico Open Source v3.32! 🎉 This release corresponds with Kubernetes v1.36 (Codename Haru) and it goes beyond just sharing a cat as the mascot of the release, it... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/)