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Cavium Networks New OCTEON(TM) EXP Processors

Posted on: Monday, 22 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Cavium Networks, a worldwide leader in security, network services and embedded processor solutions, today announced the OCTEON Multi-core MIPS64-based EXP Processor Family that enables the integration of control and data-plane processing in next generation service provider, enterprise and storage networking equipment. The OCTEON EXP Multi-core MIPS64-based processor family addresses the need of network equipment vendors merging control and data plane processing with richer functionality at unprecedented multi-gigabit rates using a standard C/C++ software-programming model. OCTEON EXP processor family is being used by networking and storage equipment vendors building Routers, Intelligent Switches, Multi-service Access Equipment, Storage servers, Multi-protocol Storage Switches, Boarder Session Gateways and other Wireless Infrastructure Equipment.

Traditionally, control plane and data plane processing architecture has been fragmented across performance ranges requiring disparate software architectures and multiple software development efforts. In low-end routers, both control and data plane functions are implemented in a single CPU, called a communication processor. In mid-range to high-end modular routers, multi-service access equipment and wireless base station equipment, the control and data plane processing is done in multiple chips consisting of a general purpose processor, micro-code based network processor and/or fixed function ASICs. The new OCTEON EXP processors enable integrated control and data plane functionality to scale from multi-100 Mbps rates to multi-Gigabit rates.

"As OEMs are adding voice and video functions to both enterprise and infrastructure equipment, the greater routing, provisioning, and quality-of-service requirements are driving a convergence of control and data plane processing," commented Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at The Linley Group. "OCTEON's multiple general-purpose processors and extensive data-plane acceleration support this convergence at multi-gigabit speeds while improving time to market with a simple programming model."

OCTEON EXP Multi-core MIPS Processor for Control and Data Plane Applications

For high-performance demands of control plane applications, the OCTEON EXP offers an unparalleled 9.6GHz and 19.2 Billion instructions/s of general-purpose processing available across 16, dual-issue, memory coherent, MIPS64 Release 2 based cores. Each 600MHz MIPS64 core in OCTEON is built from the ground-up with additional instructions for packet acceleration and a 32K I-cache, 8K D-cache and 2KB write-back buffer.

For high-performance network throughput, OCTEON EXP integrates dedicated packet processors for layer 2 - layer 4 parsing, error checking, tagging and memory allocation. Additionally, OCTEON EXP has three (3) high-performance, on-chip memory controllers. The first memory interface supports 144bit wide, ECC-protected DDR II DRAM up to 800Mbps data-rate, with capacity of up to 16GB and bandwidth greater than 100 Gbits/sec. Two additional memory interfaces support 18bit wide low-latency RLDRAM2 / FCRAM2, with low latency access and capacity of up to 1GB. This same memory interfaces can be used to connect a TCAM(s) for offloading lookups to an external hardware device. For higher layer data-plane processing, OCTEON has dedicated hardware for TCP acceleration and flow management to scale performance across multiple cores.

To reduce BOM cost, OCTEON EXP has integrated multiple standard external networking interfaces with 4 to 8 Gigabit Ethernet ports (RGMII) or dual (2x) SPI-4.2 interfaces along with a host/slave PCI-X 64bit 133MHz interface that can be used as both a data and control interface. OCTEON EXP also offers auxiliary interfaces such as GPIO, Flash, MDIO, dual UARTs and 2wire serial interfaces.

"The OCTEON EXP is built using proven technology first delivered to market with the highly successful Cavium Networks OCTEON NSP family," said Rajiv Khemani, Vice President of Marketing, Cavium Networks. "With OCTEON EXP, we have optimized the product specifically for integrated control and data applications by reducing power, delivering solutions for TCAM connectivity and critical 3rd-party control plane software. Furthermore, OCTEON EXP is available worldwide without any security-related export control restrictions".

Scalable family and Standard Software Programming Model

The OCTEON EXP family offers a complete software and footprint compatible, scalable architecture that scales from 4 to 16 MIPS64-based cores on a single chip with an array of integrated networking interfaces, memory controllers and co-processors to enable 2Gbps to 10Gbps of application performance at under 10Watts to 25Watts. Standard software programming model includes C/C++, MIPS64 and MIPS32 compatibility, Linux operating system support, GNU tool-chain and development environment along with support for third party commercial operating systems and tools for porting proprietary operating systems.

Pricing and Availability

There are 4 different parts available in the OCTEON EXP family. The CN38xx family offers 4, 8, 12 or 16 MIPS64-based cores in a footprint compatible package. Production pricing for the OCTEON EXP CN38xx family ranges from $350 to $650 in 10K unit quantities. The OCTEON EXP family of processors is sampling today along with the Development Kit including Simulator, tool-chain and reference applications. For more information, please visit: http://www.cavium.com/Octeon_exp.html .

About Cavium Networks

Cavium Networks is a worldwide leader in security, network services and embedded processor solutions. Cavium Networks' award-winning NITROX and MIPS64-based OCTEON families of processors and accelerator boards offer flexible, scalable and highly integrated solutions delivering 50Mbps to 10Gbps performance. The company's products are integrated into a wide range of networking equipment that include routers, gateways, network appliances, content switches, wireless LAN access/aggregation points, servers and storage networking devices. Cavium Networks is headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley in Mountain View, CA with development centers in Marlboro, MA and Hyderabad, India. For more information, please visit: http://www.caviumnetworks.com/ .

NOTE: OCTEON(TM) and NITROX(TM) are trademarks of Cavium Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Product photos and datasheets are available upon request.

Cavium Networks, Inc.

CONTACT: Angel Atondo of Cavium Networks, +1-650-623-7033, orangel.aatondo@caviumnetworks.com

Web site: http://www.cavium.com/Octeon_exp.html

Web site: http://www.cavium.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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