NetLogic Microsystems has introduced a new knowledge-based processor designed specifically for communications equipment. The company’s new NL111024 processor is integrated with a high-speed serial interface that should make it especially useful for IPv6, IPTV and LTE networking.
The serial interface delivers 225 Gbps of raw chip-to-chip interconnect bandwidth, which the company said represents a 340 percent increase in I/O bandwidth-per-pin from its earlier chips. The processing core, meanwhile, is capable of up to 1.6 billion decisions per second (BDPS), the company said.
These capabilities can facilitate the migration from IPv4 to IPv6, NetLogic explained. IPv6 has addresses that are four times wider for Layers 2-4 processing. This translates into a need for higher I/O bandwidth – satisfied by the new chip – to allow wider IPv6 keys to be processed at the same search rate as narrower IPv4 keys.
Meanwhile, the exponential growth in network services and applications for next-generation LTE and IPTV deployments are driving the need for increased classification and security processing per packet, NetLogic said. This is, in turn, driving the need for higher-performance, knowledge-based processors with high-speed serial links to significantly enhance the interconnect bandwidth and communications between the processors and system packet processors such as multi-core processors, network processors and customer ASICs.
