Netronome samples world’s fastest network flow processors

SANTA CLARA, USA: Netronome, the leading developer of network flow processors, is shipping the NFP-3240 to customers. The NFP-3240 is the industry’s only processor specifically designed for tight coupling with multicore Intel processors to accelerate network, security and content processing to 40 and 100 Gbps.

The NFP-3240 brings breakthrough performance to a broad range of demanding networking applications. Customer designs include shared service blades in switches and routers, 3G and LTE wireless infrastructure, security appliances and virtualized servers. Top-tier network equipment OEMs will reach production in the second half of 2010.

“We are pleased that the companies designing-in the NFP-3240 are among the world’s largest network equipment manufacturers,” said Niel Viljoen, founder and CEO of Netronome. “Netronome is in its third year of record revenues and as the market for network flow processors continues to expand, we expect our growth to accelerate.”

At the heart of the NFP-3240 is a powerful array of 40 1.4GHz microengine RISC processors. Each microengine core supports eight simultaneous computing threads, enabling the NFP-3240 to deliver 56 billion instructions per second (BIPS).

Additional hardware acceleration engines provide line-rate processing for PKI, bulk cryptography and deep packet inspection. Unique to the NFP-3240 memory architecture are hardware accelerators for queues, atomic operations and CAMs.

By minimizing the effects of memory stalls, an intelligent memory management system delivers over 80 percent effective utilization of dual DDR3 1333MHz and dual QDR SRAM channels that operate at up to 350MHz. This unmatched processing power and memory performance is required for critical L4-L7 networking applications designed for 40 to 100 gigabit networks.

Over 100 Gbps of I/O options unlock the massive flow processing power of the 40 microengines. The NFP-3240 features an 8 lane PCIe 2.0 interface, dual 25 Gbps Interlaken, dual 10GigE and 8x1 GigE MACs, dual 10 Gbps XAUI, and SPI 4.2. Enhanced PCIe I/O virtualization support makes the NFP-3240 the only processor to seamlessly integrate with best-in-class multicore Intel Architecture processors. This allows heterogeneous processing designs to be realized simply and cost effectively.

“Many designs for high-performance networking equipment are based on the latest Intel® Xeon® processors,” said Rose Schooler, general manager, Performance Processor Division, Intel. “When coupled with Netronome’s NFP-3240 they deliver full L2-L7 processing without sacrificing performance.”

The NFP-3240’s microengine cores are designed specifically for flow-based network and security processing. Microengines are not burdened with the overhead found in general-purpose processors that limits effective throughput to a few Gbps, even when adding cores and increasing clock rates.

These optimizations for network processing enable the industry’s highest BIPS per watt when operating under full load at 30W. The NFP-3240’s microengine cores also offer the only source-code compatibility with Intel’s market-leading IXP28XX network processors.

“Netronome’s NFP-3240 flow processors deliver the only follow-on to the IXP28XX line of network processors,” said Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group. “This provides a high-performance evolution for existing IXP designs and protects customers’ substantial investment in field-proven and network-hardened software.”

To accelerate OEM product development the NFP-3240 is supported by the most comprehensive tool set in the industry. This includes a C-compiler, a powerful simulation environment, a complete hardware development platform and a library of hundreds of software flow processing functions. The NFP-3240 is also backed by an extensive ecosystem offering hardware, software, operating systems and design services.

The NFP-32xx family is available in a range of price and performance options for 10, 40 and 100 Gbps designs. Configuration options span from 16 to 40 cores, operating at 1.0 or 1.4GHz, with optional cryptography support. With prices starting at $275, the NFP-32xx family of network flow processors are sampling now with general availability in mid-2010.