cuemaster and all, Article.. IBM, Intel to equip chips for network flexibility...
August 3, 1999
PC Week : IBM and Intel Corp. are heading into the emerging arena of high-performance, programmable network processors, a move that could give rise to a new crop of products enabling enterprise sites and service providers to more quickly, and less expensively, adapt to changing network requirements.
IBM plans to ship by December its first fully programmable network processor, code-named Rainier. Intel, meanwhile, is working to leverage last month's acquisition of Softcom Microsystems Inc., a programmable processor pioneer with its P3 technology.
Originally the province of a handful of smaller startups, programmable network processors are designed to replace custom-designed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) in networking hardware. The newer processors not only are programmable and can be upgraded through software, they now match the performance of ASICs that earlier programmable processors lacked.
"It's investment protection," said Chuck Sannipoli, enablement manager for networking technology at IBM, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "When the next new thing comes out ... you can just swap out the software that supports it, instead of the hardware."
IBM's Rainier chip has at its core a PowerPC processor and several smaller processors. It can handle packet processing functions, including router table lookups, policy enforcement and encryption.
The chip, about the size of a thick credit card, will initially support up to 40 Fast Ethernet channels or four Gigabit Ethernet channels.
Although the first shipment will be built on IBM's CMOS 6 aluminum-based chips, subsequent versions will be based on copper, which allows increased performance in a smaller, less power-hungry chip.
The first products based on the chip are due next March from IBM's Networking Hardware Division. Those will most likely be routing switches, although the chips can be used in a variety of devices, officials said.
Future products now under consideration would provide virtual private network management, advanced quality-of-service management and policy enforcement, officials said. IBM also intends to market the chips to other networking vendors. The company is negotiating with Cisco Systems Inc. and 3Com Corp., and it has held talks with Nortel Networks Corp., said a source close to IBM.
For its part, Intel plans to capitalize on Softcom's work staking out a presence at the network's edge, according to Tony Stelliga, general manager of Intel's broadband business unit, in Fremont, Calif. "Our processors specialized in network acceleration at the edge, where you have Ethernet coming into the processor, and it would convert that into the WAN backbone," Stelliga said.
"What's next is to go from OC-12 to OC-48 [data rates], other applications like DSL [digital subscriber line] and storage area networks, and we'll be able to augment our software offering," he said.
Still, a group of startups remain out in front on delivery of chips and development systems.
C-Port Corp., for instance, plans to ship its first network processor by the end of this quarter. The North Andover, Mass., startup earlier this year released its software for developing, simulating and testing products.
Rival Agere Inc., of Austin, Texas, this week plans to announce the release of an evaluation system that includes its Fast Pattern Processor chip. |
