Fulcrum Microsystems released its next generation of 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch/router chips, the FocalPoint FM3000 series, featuring a lossless fabric and security capabilities. 
Continuous Computing has chosen the FocalPoint FM3000 series for its FlexCore ATCA-FM40 base / fabric switch blade. Continuous Computing’s FM40 provides full 10GE line-rate switching for 16 slots and eight external links with a 240 Gbps non-blocking fabric switch. The backplane interface supports 10GE links for applications demanding maximum performance, but is also backward compatible with GE links for legacy products.
Fulcrum Microsystems believes the service provider network is increasingly resembling that of a large enterprise data center as they shift to an IP-based network and expand server and storage farms to deliver data services ranging from IPTV to “cloud computing” to email to data security and others.
The FM3000 series of L2+ switches features a variety of port configurations – up to 24 non-blocking 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) ports. The devices have a shared memory, output-queued architecture that makes efficient use of frame memory and enables fully provisioned multicast replication. A sophisticated set of congestion and traffic management mechanisms including class-based pause, link-level flow control and congestion notification enable lossless data transmissions while maintaining ultra-low (300ns) latency. A built-in policy engine allows designers to establish fully configurable access control lists and other types of policy-based frame forwarding – all of which can operate at full line rate with no performance degradation.
Additionally, this latest generation of switches couples the ultra-low latency with highly efficient load balancing through Pearson’s-based hashing to enable extensible “fat-tree” architectures to be built within a chassis.http://www.fulcrummicro.com
