IBM rolls out network processors and software for OC-48 networks

IBM rolls out network processors and software for OC-48 networks
By Mark LaPedus, Semiconductor Business News
October 25, 2001 (12:24 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011025S0040

SAN JOSE -- IBM Microelectronics here announced two new network processors and software upgrades for use in 2.5-gigabits-per-second (OC-48) applications.

The company is also making steady progress in this business despite the current downturn in the communications market, said Armando Garcia, vice president of network processors at IBM Microelectronics, based in East Fishkill, N.Y.

IBM has experienced some push outs in orders for its network-processor lines, but the company has also seen a frenzy of design activity, Garcia said. "We are ahead of our design-win plan," Garcia said. "We have 80 design wins just for our network processor alone," he said in an interview at the Network Processors Conference here on Wednesday.

IBM is also sampling its new, low-end network processors, based on its PowerPC 405 embedded RISC core. These products--known as the NPe405L and NPe405H--embed 16 RISC cores within the device.

Each core runs at speeds of 100- and 133-MHz, but they also utilize a "double-threaded" technology that enables the network-processor lines to support 200- and 266-MHz clock rates.

The company also announced several new software initiatives that can help OEMs develop systems based on its network processors. It is offering qualified customers an enhanced software developers' tool kit for its network processor lines.

The company is also boosting its PowerNP NP4GS3 software stack with a new and advanced software offering. It is also boosting the IBM PowerNP NP4GS3 processor picocode.

The processor now offers Semaphore Manager, permitting multiple threads to access common resources. The software also increases table update capability, expands the instruction memory, and improves the dispatch unit in memory configuration and packet processing.