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Technology Stocks : EZchip Semiconductor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clappy who wrote (37)	8/18/2000 4:40:05 PM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2675

Another article. (Written in June) icd.pennwellnet.com Network-processor philosophies diverge By Stephen Hardy With emerging network-processor companies disappearing left and right due to acquisition, a systems designer can be forgiven for feeling confused about where to turn to meet new requirements. Such uncertainty may grow if the divergent paths of two of these new suppliers signal the start of a trend. Interviewed at the recent GEC2000 event in San Jose, CA, marketing vice president Charlie Jenkins of Solidum Systems Corp. (Scotts Valley, CA), revealed that his firm has decided to focus its efforts on only one of the major network-processing functions: classification preprocessing of packets at OC-192 rates. In a presentation at the show, Jenkins said that network processors offered an ideal solution to the challenge of high-speed classification, which tends to be a laborious process that can slow cycle times if left to the CPU. Jenkins says such processors can be used in both centralized and distributed architectures, depending on the system requirements. Separately, Jenkins said that for high-speed applications such as 10 Gbits/ sec, the full range of network-processing functions would best be handled by multiple processors. He said several different firms already have processors that could handle pieces of the network-processing puzzle at OC-192 rates. Solidum will seek to partner with these vendors and others to provide classification capability for a range of applications. The company recently inked a deal with Sitera Inc., another network-processor vendor, to pair their two offerings. The Solidum chip will perform complex policy identification tasks, freeing Sitera's chip for application processing. The company also has aligned with Quantum Effect Devices Inc. (QED-Santa Clara, CA) to provide classification capability alongside QED's RM7000 microprocessor for OC-192 line-card applications. At Networld + Interop, Solidum also announced an agreement with Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Camarillo, CA) to pair its classification technology with Vitesse's TeraPOWER architecture for OC-192 applications. In addition, Solidum unveiled PAX.port 1100, a 16-channel classifier design to support aggregate classification rates from 1.6 to >5 Gits/sec. The chip is slated for sampling this September. But while Solidum and others take a multichip approach to high-speed net work processing, EZchip Technologies (Migdal Haemek, Israel) thinks one chip is enough. The startup company has unveiled the core technology that it says will enable 10-Gbit/sec, seven-layer, wire-speed packet processing in a single device. The technology, called Task Opti mized Processing Core (TOPcore), represents an evolutionary advance over the RISC-based architectures used in some network-processor offerings, says Eli Fruchter, EZchip's president and CEO. The architecture consists of several small, high-speed processors, each optimized for a specific task, contained within a single chip. The processors are connected in parallel and pipeline to improve performance; embedded memory also improves efficiency. The results, says Fruchter, significantly reduce the time required to perform processing tasks. For example, the forthcoming EZchip products will be able to parse a URL in an HTTP/RTSP packet in 60 clocks, search URL tables in six clocks, and resolve a multicast routing decision in eight clocks. The architecture also will enable the chip to draw information from the entire contents of a packet to perform content switching to support multiple quality-of-service or service-level agreements, as well as applications such as voice over Internet protocol. Fruchter says that the initial chip's 1x10-Gbit/sec and 8x1-Gbit/ sec port sizes should scale to 128x10 Gbits/sec and 1,024x1 Gbit/sec. Prototypes should be available by March of next year, with volume production scheduled for June 2001.