EZchip Technologies disclosed information on its upcoming NP-4 network processor, which is now in design in a 65 nanometer silicon process and scheduled to sample in 2008. The main highlights of the single-chip NP-4 will include:
- 100-Gigabit throughput for building 20-Gigabit, 40-Gigabit and 100-Gigabit line cards for Carrier Ethernet Switches and Routers (CESR).
- Integrated traffic management providing granular bandwidth control to enable the delivery of triple-play services in Ethernet networks.
- Integrated 100-Gigabit, eight 10-Gigabit and 24 1-Gigabit Ethernet serial ports.
- Integrated Fabric Interface Chip (FIC) for direct connection to Ethernet switches that are used as switch fabrics while providing system-wide Quality of Service (QoS).
- Utilizes external memory chips based on low cost and power DRAM technology.
- Operations, Administration and Management (OAM) processing offload.
- Software compatible with EZchip’s present NP-2 and NP-3 network processors.
EZchip said its NP-4 will enable direct connection from the line card to Ethernet-based switching fabric through a unique integration of the functionality typically provided by a separate fabric interface chip. It provides control over traffic arbitration and scheduling from all the line cards in the system across the switch fabric, to provide end-to-end system-wide QoS. This allows system vendors to utilize low-cost Ethernet switches as their fabric solution and eliminate the fabric interface chip from their line cards. The result is significant reduction in line card and overall system cost. http://www.ezchip.com