DPDK revolutionized software packet processing initially for discrete appliances and then for Virtual Network Functions. Containers and micro-services technologies are extensively used as a means to scale up and out in the Cloud.

Containers and micro-services now include Comms Service Providers among their advocates, and embracing these technologies with their scaling model and resiliency is the new frontier in software packet processing. However there are challenges in decomposing Software Network Functions into Data-plane Micro-Services.

This talk will describe:- 1. The challenges of enabling robustness and scaling, while still meeting data-plane performance goals. 2. The use cases, the trends and the timelines. 3. The enabling work to date in DPDK and FD.io VPP, and the next steps.