Continuous Computing announces industry's highest performance 40G ATCA packet processing using NetLogic' multi-core and knowledge-based processors

China Femtocells Symposium, China 4G / LTE Summit, LTE Asia 2010, SAN DIEGO & SANTA CLARA, USA: Continuous Computing, a provider of integrated platform solutions that address the mobile broadband capacity challenge, and NetLogic Microsystems Inc., a leader in high-performance intelligent semiconductor solutions for next-generation Internet networks, announced their collaboration to deliver the industry’s highest performance 40G AdvancedTCA (ATCA) packet processing platforms using NetLogic Microsystems’ XLP multi-core, multi-threaded processors with 64 NXCPUs, the NL11k knowledge-based processors and 10GE PHY solutions.

Based on NetLogic Microsystems’ new XLP832 multi-core processor, Continuous Computing’s flagship FlexPacket ATCA-PP80 packet processing blade, first announced in February 2010, is designed to support the new 40G ATCA standards and is targeted at core and edge elements in 3G wireless, Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks as well as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) applications such as security, video content delivery, lawful intercept and intelligent traffic shaping.

With the doubling of mobile data traffic volumes every nine months, Continuous Computing’s PP80 allows network equipment provider customers, such as Procera Networks, to enable higher quality of service (QoS), increased revenue opportunities and optimized network efficiency for mobile operators who are desperately trying to close the gap between traffic growth and revenue growth.

In addition, as “4G” LTE networks begin to emerge and subscriber adoption and multimedia usage grows, traffic volumes will continue to increase significantly and accelerate the need for more robust traffic offload and security capabilities.

Building on more than three years of ATCA packet processing market share dominance due to the successful FlexPacket ATCA-PP50, Continuous Computing’s widely-deployed 10G blade, the PP80 offers up to a 4X throughput improvement over previous generations and provides the highest I/O density, the highest packet processing performance and establishes a new floor for customers’ cost-per-Gigabit when compared to competitive ATCA solutions.

Customers may choose to deploy the PP80 in tandem with the company’s FlexCore ATCA-FM80 40G hub switch, thereby leveraging Continuous Computing’s unmatched expertise in ATCA packet processing, high throughput load balancing and LTE mobile broadband.

Together, these integrated products deliver backward compatibility with existing 10G systems and a clear upgrade path to 100G data rates while delivering the performance necessary for the front-end load balancing preferred by many mobile operators today.

“We have a long and successful track record with Continuous Computing’s PP50 packet processing blade and have used it extensively as the key engine for packet classification and offloading in our successful PacketLogic PL10000 product line,” said Cam Cullen, vice president of product line management at Procera Networks. “We’re eager to evaluate the PP80 and test its higher performance levels with the addition of the XLP832 processor.”

The exponential growth of converged voice, video and data traffic over IP-based networks, coupled with the rapid adoption of services and applications over mobile devices, is driving the need for networking equipment to concurrently support all Layers 2 through 7 processing functions and to be able to process network traffic at wire speeds and with full determinism.

As the available competitive solutions provide non-deterministic, high latency and best-effort packet processing, networking original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been forced to compromise network integrity by separating Layers 2-4 and Layers 4-7 processing on different cards and then selectively performing certain functions only on a fraction of the traffic.

“Having established our leadership in 10G ATCA solutions, we’re proud once again to lead the industry in the leap to 40G to meet the exponential growth in mobile broadband traffic,” said Mike Coward, chief technology officer and co-founder at Continuous Computing. “Our multi-generation partnership with NetLogic Microsystems has enabled us to develop innovative and differentiated mobile infrastructure and DPI system architectures that are optimized to wring the most performance out of every cycle and every system.”

By using NetLogic Microsystems’ industry-leading XLP multi-core, multi-threaded processors, NL11k knowledge-based processor, NETL7 Layer 7 knowledge-based processor and 10 Gigabit Ethernet PHYs, and coupled with Continuous Computing’s Trillium protocol software, the PP80 packet processing blade delivers significant advantages in performance, functionality, power and cost for next-generation switches, routers, access aggregation, metro Ethernet, service gateways and security appliances.

The PP80 blade is capable of performing uncompromised packet processing on every packet of traffic with minimal network latency under a wide variety of Internet traffic scenarios, which in turn ensures predictable network behaviors and eliminates network bottlenecks.

“We’re pleased to build upon our strong collaboration with Continuous Computing on its 40G ATCA packet processing offering that adopts multiple of our market-leading product lines,” said Chris O’Reilly, vice president of marketing at NetLogic Microsystems. “We congratulate Continuous Computing on extending its technology leadership in ATCA solutions through the successful introduction of the PP80.”

NetLogic Microsystems’ XLP multi-core, multi-threaded processors combine the power of 64 NXCPUs that operate at up to 2.0GHz and are based on a highly innovative superscalar architecture with out-of-order execution capabilities to deliver unparalleled packet processing performance.

The XLP processor cores are quad-issue and quad-threaded to enable the highest control plane and data plane throughput. To complement the 64 NXCPUs, the XLP832 processors interface directly over a 50Gbps high-speed serial bus to NetLogic Microsystems’ NL11k knowledge-based processor, giving the CPUs high-speed access to 128 knowledge-based processing engines to deliver up to one billion decisions per second of advanced Layers 2-4 flow classification, IPv4/IPv6 forwarding, ACL security and quality-of-service (QoS) policing.

The combination of the breakthrough innovations in the XLP multi-core processors and the NL11k knowledge-based processor allows this solution to deliver 15X the Layer 4 performance of existing solutions. Both processors are manufactured on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC’s) advanced 40nm process, providing for the smallest die size, highest clocking speeds and industry-leading power profile.

Continuous Computing’s FlexPacket ATCA-PP80 packet processing blade will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010. Strong deployment candidates include network elements such as Serving/Gateway GPRS Support Node (SGSN/GGSN) and Access Service Network (ASN) Gateway in 3G wireless networks; and Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), Serving Gateway (SGW) and Mobility Management Entity (MME) in the LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC).