NetLogic intros world’s first knowledge-based processor with high-speed serial interface

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: NetLogic Microsystems Inc. has announced the NL111024 processor, the world’s first knowledge-based processor with high-speed serial interface, and a member of its sixth-generation knowledge-based processor family.

The integration of high-speed serial interface delivers 225Gbps of raw chip-to-chip interconnect bandwidth. This represents a 340% increase in I/O bandwidth-per-pin to enable significantly higher system performance, higher system density and lower system costs for next-generation systems to enable significantly richer services for LTE, IPTV and IPv6 services. In addition, the NL111024 processor features an enhanced knowledge-based processing core capable of achieving 1.6 billion decisions per second (BDPS).

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. 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 knowledge-based processors and system packet processors such as multi-core processors, network processors and customer ASICs.

In addition, the migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is resulting in 4x wider addresses for Layers 2-4 processing. This translates into the need for higher I/O bandwidth and larger knowledge database density and capacity. The higher I/O bandwidth of the NL111024 processor delivers an improved balance between the knowledge-based processing core and the I/O performance to allow wider IPv6 keys to be processed at the same search rate as narrower IPv4 keys.

In addition to the higher I/O bandwidth, the narrow-bus differential signaling of the NL111024 processor’s high-speed serial interface also enables customers to develop system boards with a lower layer count, thereby reducing the complexity and costs of next-generation systems.

“Our NL111024 knowledge-based processor is truly revolutionary as it is designed and optimized to meet and exceed the needs of our customers who are looking to simultaneously support much richer services and IPv6 capabilities,” said Chris O’Reilly, vice president of marketing at NetLogic Microsystems.

“By raising the bar on the knowledge-based processing performance to 1.6BDPS and enhancing the I/O bandwidth by 340 percent, this NL111024 device showcases the true R&D cross-development synergies within the company as it brings together our industry-leading knowledge-based processing technology with our best-in-class PHY and SerDes technology.”

In addition to featuring the high-speed serial link, the NL111024 processor is a fully-programmable “hybrid” knowledge-based processor that features the convergence of high-performance, massively parallel knowledge-based processing with the low-power efficiency and flexibility of algorithmic Sahasra technology to dramatically reduce power consumption while delivering best-in-class performance and functionality.

The processor integrates 128 high-performance knowledge-based processing engines, and includes an enhanced Intelligent Load Balancing Engine (ILBE) to efficiently allocate multiple tasks and communicate among all the 128 knowledge-based processing engines. The knowledge-based processing engines and ILBE are tightly coupled with integrated advanced Sahasra Algorithmic Engines (SAEs) to dramatically lower the power consumption of search processing.

The NL111024 knowledge-based processor also integrates an innovative Range Encoding Engine (REE), which employs advanced one-hot and fence encoding algorithms to implement range encoding that allows customers to effectively double the efficiency of performing port range inspection.