Networking, wireless to command center stage at expanded venue -- Intel forum takes comms bent
Date: 08/18 23:46 EST
Aug. 18, 2000 (Electronic Engineering Times - CMP via COMTEX) -- SAN JOSE,
CALIF. - The Intel Developer Forum starts here tomorrow at a new venue almost
large enough to handle Intel Corp.'s turn toward networking and wireless
solutions.
Indeed, the semi-annual tent revival is taking on the proportions of a Billy
Graham crusade. Tony resort town Palm Springs had been the forum's host city for
the past few years, but IDF Fall 2000 will be staged at the more convenient San
Jose Convention Center-and even that sprawling complex won't be large enough.
The software technical tracks will be held down the street, in the San Jose
Fairmont Hotel, and other nearby venues have also been tapped as staging areas.
Intel expects 5,000 people, mainly engineers, to attend the three-day event
(developer.intel.com/design/IDF).
Wireless platform
Intel vice president Ron Smith, who oversees the wireless communications and
computing group, is expected to describe in some detail a wireless-platform IC
that will combine the StrongARM2 core with a 16-bit fixed-point digital signal
processing core being co-developed by a team of Intel and Analog Devices Inc.
engineers based in Austin, Texas. Although Smith is not expected to describe the
SA2+DSP as ready to ship, several technical sessions are dedicated to the
wireless initiative, indicating that Intel engineers are prepared to talk about
the platform's technical specifications.
Intel vice president Mark Christensen, in charge of the company's communications
group, will detail Intel's Internet Exchange Architecture (IXA). Intel is ready
to release network-monitoring systems based on the GigaBlade platform technology
and processors acquired last year from Softcom Microsystems Inc. (Fremont,
Calif.).
Softcom had developed a proprietary 64-bit processor capable of detailed packet
analysis. Intel, while continuing to offer the processor on the merchant market,
has combined that device with a multiprocessor Intel server to create a system
that can keep up with high-speed network traffic and detect potential problems.
Tony Stelliga, formerly Softcom's president and now a vice president with
Intel's network communications group, noted the challenges that arise when
network traffic consists of Internet Protocol packets or asynchronous transfer
mode cells transferred over fiber-optic So-net links. "You lose a lot of
visibility and granularity when you go into the optical domain," Stelliga said,
largely because the technology to analyze such streams at OC-48
(2.5-Gbit/second) speeds hasn't existed until now. The task requires brawn on
two fronts: a processor fast enough to handle the packet-header analysis, and a
server fast enough to handle the data being thrown at it by the processor.
The Optical Services Platform (OSP) chassis will clamp directly onto a
fiber-optic cable. The cable, bent in a "U" shape, will allow signals to pass
through unharmed, but the GigaBlade's receiving laser will be able to pick up
light signals that "spray" from the U-turn in the fiber, Stelliga said.
The OSP will then use Softcom's processor-now called the IXF6401-to process the
incoming packets or cells. Initially, the GigaBlade boards will contain four
IXF6401 processors; eventually those will be replaced by a single processor that
will handle OC-192 (10-Gbit/s) traffic.
For analyzing the data dredged up by the IXF6401, the OSP incorporates a
complete Intel server running Xeon processors (with an eventual switch to
Itanium processors). The I/O for the server is tweaked so that the box can
swallow the volume of data to be processed, Stelliga said.
The OSP servers run the Linux operating system along with Intel-written software
for network analysis.
With the server properly programmed, the OSP can use its traffic data to detect
intrusions or spot opportunities for a carrier to sell more services to a
particular customer, Stelliga said.
The road map for GigaBlade has the IXF6401 being replaced by more powerful
versions over time, with a 128-bit processor to debut in 2002. Intel also plans
to release an eight-processor version of the board. The attendant server will be
upgraded along with the Intel architecture, eventually shifting to 64-bit
Itaniums.
Before it can handle full monitoring of OC-192 channels, the server will have to
wait for the Infiniband bus, Stelliga said. "To get there sooner, you can
[filter the traffic using the GigaBlade card and] pass a subset of the traffic
across the PCI bus or PCI-X bus."
USB and eHome
Not all the attention at IDF will be on communications. Intel veterans-including
CEO Craig Barrett; Albert Yu, senior vice president in charge of microprocessor
development; and Pat Gelsinger, chief technological officer of the Intel
architecture group-will discuss initiatives ranging from the Pentium IV and
Itanium processors to the latest repositioning of Intel's road map for the RDRAM
technology developed with Rambus Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.).
Also on the agenda are USB 2.0, the Universal Serial Bus follow-on for use in
future PCs, and the eHome initiative, a spokesman said. A networked-home demo
will feature one PC acting as a hub for connected printers, DVD drives playing
video and high-bandwidth connectivity. NetChip Inc. and other USB chip vendors
will demonstrate working USB 2.0 silicon, the spokesman said.
About 150 third-party companies will demonstrate their own products at IDF, and
more than half of the technical sessions will be led by engineers from
com-panies other than Intel. - Additional reporting by David Lammers.
eetimes.com
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By: Craig Matsumoto
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