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networkZONE Products for the week of July 28, 2008
NetLogic Microsystems Says…
Production Shipments of the NL91024 Processor, Second Member of “Hybrid” Knowledge-based Processor Family
The NL91024 is the second device in NetLogic Microsystems fifth-generation knowledge-based processor family, which features the world’s first “hybrid” knowledge-based processor architecture that converges high-performance knowledge-based processing and superior low-power efficiency of algorithmic Sahasra technology
NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. has announced production shipments of its NL91024 knowledge-based processor as part of its fifth-generation knowledge-based processor family. The NL91024 processor is a fully-programmable “hybrid” knowledge-based processor that features the convergence of high-performance, massively parallel knowledge-based processing with the superior low-power efficiency and flexibility of algorithmic Sahasra technology to dramatically reduce power consumption while delivering best-in-class performance and functionality for next-generation IPTV and advanced mobile wireless networks.
NetLogic Microsystems’ NL91024 knowledge-based processor integrates 128 high-performance knowledge-based processing engines, which is double that of the previously announced NL9512 device. In addition, the NL91024 processor features 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 in the NL91024 “hybrid” knowledge-based processor.
The enhancements in the NL91024 processor deliver a dramatic increase in processing power and up to 5X lower power consumption compared to competing solutions. This enables customers to develop next-generation IPv6 systems that offer significantly higher performance while meeting increasingly stringent power requirements of telecom and datacenter applications.
All members of the NL9000 “hybrid” knowledge-based processor family also integrate an innovative Range Encoding Engine (REE) and a fifth-generation I/O design. The REE 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. The fifth-generation I/O delivers 64Gbps of raw chip-to-chip interconnect bandwidth, which is 60% greater than previous generations of knowledge-based processors. When coupled with the ILBE, customers can achieve up to 100 Gbits/s of effective bandwidth, allowing the NL91024 processor to support the most performance-demanding switching and routing applications currently in design.
The rapid proliferation of advanced mobile devices such as video phones, portable media players, mobile gaming devices and Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled global positioning systems (GPS) has accelerated the global industry migration from IPv4 to IPv6 networks. This transition is driving the need for knowledge-based processors with significantly higher performance, higher interface (I/O) bandwidth, enhanced flexibility, expanded set of new features and dramatically lower power consumption.
“We’re pleased to go to production with our second fifth-generation hybrid knowledge-based processor family,” said Chris O’Reilly, vice president of marketing at NetLogic Microsystems. “Our clear technology leadership with the NL91024 enables us to provide the most advanced solution for an essential part of wirespeed processing in the most demanding next generation designs for enterprise networking, cable, wireline and wireless infrastructure. As virtually all of our key existing and new customers rapidly move to 40 Gbit/s and now 100Gbit/s dataplane designs, the unique performance, functionality and low power of our NL9000 product family is becoming an increasingly important component in these new system designs. The NL91024 facilitates the required order-of-magnitude jump in bandwidth while also supporting the addition of numerous new features, such as advanced quality-of-service and access-control security needed for triple-play and quad-play applications.”
EN-Genius Says…
The term “knowledge-based processor” that NetLogic uses to distinguish its versatile hybrid search engine technology from ordinary TCAM-based lookup devices may seem a bit pretentious, but I’m at a loss for any other expression that does the job in less than a paragraph. This second member of their NL9000 series makes even better use of the hybrid TCAM/SRAM technology (see the February 2008 review of the first NL9000 device for details) that gives these engines much more flexibility and capacity than an equivalent TCAM-based product. Besides offering twice the capacity of its predecessor, the NL91024 has several architectural tweaks that make it much more efficient at dealing with IPv6 traffic. Given the rapid adoption of the v6 protocol within wireless infrastructures and broadband access systems which also have complex security and QoS enforcement requirements, the NL91024 seems to have found several markets where its $300 (approximate) sticker price will seem like a real bargain.
The most obvious feature of the NL91024 is its expanded configurable SRAM which now boasts 40 Mbit of raw capacity. If you don’t need the full capabilities of a TCAM (eg if you’re only doing simple look-ups for forwarding applications), you can use NetLogic’s Sahsra trie-based lookup technology and a clever range encoding and compression scheme to reconfigure blocks of memory to deliver up to 4x more effective capacity. The compression/encoding logic uses a combination of eliminating irrelevant parts of search terms and re-using unnecessary mask bits as extra storage to allow accommodation of more search terms in fewer cells. Depending on your application, you can use the range encoding alone to deliver a 2x effective expansion or the Sahasra mode alone for a 3x capacity bump.
 Although the NL91024 has the same 80-bit search key width as the earlier part, it uses a combination of new on-chip logic and new programming algorithms to implement search and compression algorithms that have been fine-tuned for the larger 128-bit wide v6 address header. For many applications, NetLogic says that simply being able to handle the v6 destination address is not enough because customers are also interested in looking at other fields like destination port address, QoS tags, and VPI IDs. But even with these additional fields, a 2-term (160-bit) search gives you enough extra bits to support a rich collection of these appended fields. NetLogic was quick to point out that, even with the new v6-friendly logic, the NL91024 can still efficiently handle v4 processing using a single 80-bit term.
Another significant improvement is the processor’s expanded intelligent load balancing engine (ILBE) that distributes the workload among 128 separate processing cores (the earlier model supported 64). The load balancing logic uses a combination of user-defined keys and preset templates to tag each packet or portion of a key for to direct a term to a particular processor and define operation that’s going to be performed on it. The ILBE is programmed via a software API using a programming model that abstracts most of the fiddly-bit details so that you can concentrate on the function you’re trying to implement instead of trying to remember the hex code required to set a mask bit in a particular register.
Like its predecessor, the NL91024 sports a pair of 80-bit parallel interfaces that allow you to daisy-chain up to four chips to create a truly huge search/inspection space. The interface throughput is still 64 Gbit/s but the updated load balancing engine can increase its so-called effective bandwidth by 30%, or more, by eliminating transmission of redundant data elements in multiple search terms.
Given its higher capacity and IPv6 capabilities, the NL91024 should shine in the core and edge access infrastructure applications it’s been designed to serve. While more highly-programmable network processors are great for general-purpose applications, NetLogic architecture makes these devices a more cost- and power-efficient choice for many repetitive high-touch functions involved with forwarding, policy-based QoS enforcement and ACL management tasks. This ability to support extremely intelligent QoS policies should also make it especially popular in the IPv6-capable edge routers which are selling equally well in wired broadband and wireless networks which both are delivering increasing volumes of streaming video.
The NL91024 knowledge-based processor is available now in production quantities and will ship this year to numerous Tier One OEMs for use in advanced next-generation switch and router products for triple-play and quad-play applications in networking, wireline and wireless communications infrastructure. NetLogic says that high-volume pricing for the NL91024 is in the $300 range but varies significantly by actual order size. Much to my dismay, NetLogic has declined to post much information about this product on its web site and advises anyone who wants to know more to contact them at sales@netlogicmicro.com.
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