Intel strides into network chips with new products, fund
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The strategy will largely center around the Intel Internet Exchange Architecture, or IXA, the blueprint for a new family of networking chips, according to Mark Christensen, vice president and general manager of the Networking Communications Group at Intel.
The IXA in many ways reflects the strategy that Intel has adopted in the PC industry. At the heart of the effort sits the IXP 1200, a processor set built around technology acquired from Level One, Softcom, and Digital. The chip will essentially serve as the traffic controller for PBX boxes, routers, and other telco equipment.
Complementing the chip, Intel will also release 12 other products that will allow the IXA 1200 to be placed into a variety of systems, ranging from basic communications servers, to multiple processor systems, voice-data network solutions, or to serve as the engine behind virtual private networks, a relatively deluxe service from communications carriers that allows parties to engage in protected communications that are not hooked up to the same internal network.
By developing several generic building blocks, Intel hopes to squeeze into as many sub-segments of the market as possible.
"We want to sell in millions of units, not tens of thousands of units," he said.
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