--- title: "Turbo-charged Calico" source: "https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/turbo-charged-calico/" --- [Technical Blog](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/category/technical-blog/) # Turbo-charged Calico By [Andrew Randall](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/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://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/app/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-12.40.48-PM.png)](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/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://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/tags/open-source/)[Partner/Integration](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/tags/partner-integration/)[Project Calico](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/tags/project-calico/) Add Tigera as a preferred source on Google to see more of our content in your search results. [![Add as a preferred source on Google](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/app/themes/tigera2021/dist/img/google-preferred-source-light.png)](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=tigera.io) ## Related posts [![What’s New in Calico: Winter 2026 Release](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/app/uploads/2026/03/What-is-new-in-Calico-winter-2026.png)](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/whats-new-in-calico-winter-2026-release/) [Company Blog](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/category/company-blog/) #### [What’s New in Calico: Winter 2026 Release](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/whats-new-in-calico-winter-2026-release/) By [Veronika Smolik](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/author/veronika-smolik/) on Mar 4, 2026 AI Powered Intelligence, Unified Traffic Observability and Scalable Infrastructure Management As anyone managing one or more Kubernetes clusters knows by now, scaling can introduce an exponentially growing number of problems. The sheer volume of metrics,... [Read more](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/whats-new-in-calico-winter-2026-release/) [![Join Calico at KubeCon Europe 2026: AI Agents, Silent Discos, and Dutch Delights!](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/app/uploads/2026/02/Blog-Kubecon-Euro-2026-.png)](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/calico-at-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe2026/) #### [Join Calico at KubeCon Europe 2026: AI Agents, Silent Discos, and Dutch Delights!](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/calico-at-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe2026/) By [Tigera Team](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/author/marketingtigera-io/) on Feb 25, 2026 The cloud-native community is heading to the historic canals and vibrant tech scene of Amsterdam for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026! From March 23–26, Amsterdam will be buzzing with the latest in Kubernetes, platform engineering,... [Read more](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/calico-at-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe2026/) [![Project Calico 3.30+ Hackathon: Show Us What You Can Build!](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/app/uploads/2026/02/Blog-Hackathon-.png)](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/project-calico-3-30-hackathon-show-us-what-you-can-build/) #### [Project Calico 3.30+ Hackathon: Show Us What You Can Build!](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/project-calico-3-30-hackathon-show-us-what-you-can-build/) By [Tigera Team](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/author/marketingtigera-io/) on Feb 17, 2026 Build the Future of Cloud-Native Networking! 🚀 The Calico community moves fast. With the releases of Calico 3.30 and 3.31, brings improvements in scalability, network security, and visibility. Now, we want to see what YOU... [Read more](https://wordpress-1075849-4005834.cloudwaysapps.com/blog/project-calico-3-30-hackathon-show-us-what-you-can-build/)