High-end and mid-range layer 2 through 4 packet routing and switching systems can look forward to a new level of performance, scalability, and quality of service (QoS). Sandburst's QE-2000 integrated traffic manager and fabric interface device is to Ethernet switches and routers what the QE2 is to cruise ships.
This latest HiBeam networking chip packs a fabric interface, powerful packet processor, and traffic manager. It's scalable from 40 Gbits/s to 1.28 Tbits/s—yes, that's T for terabits. Also, it can handle over 16,000 queues per device with 16 classes of support with 512k physical queues per system.
Two SPI-4.2 interfaces offer up to 50 subchannels, and 18 3.125-Gbit/s serializer/deserializer interfaces can support up to 45 Gbits/s of fabric connectivity. There's also standard commercial off-the-shelf DDR2 SDRAM for off-chip packet buffer memory, as well as an embedded packet processor. The chip boasts fine-grained shaping support for both ingress and egress on a per port basis and up to 48 10/100/1000 Ethernet interfaces. A special packet-based QoS feature handles bandwidth guarantees and priority traffic without compromising throughput.
The QE-2000 resides on the line card in a typical system with the ingress and egress interfaces and the Sandburst FE-1000 forwarding-engine chip (see the figure). The internal scalable microprogrammable architecture provides 10-Gbit/s packet processing of Ethernet, IPv4 and IPv6, and multiprotocol-label-switching traffic. Also, the QE-2000 talks to the fabric card via the 3.125-Mbit/s serial interfaces. On the fabric card are the Sandburst SE-4000, a 40-by-40 memory-less crossbar, an integrated eight- or 32-node arbiter, and the BME-3200 bandwidth manager.
Made with a 0.13-µm TSMC process, the QE-2000 comes in a 1517-pin EBGA 40- by 40-mm package. Samples will be available in December. Pricing is $495 in 1000-unit quantities.
Sandburst Corp.www.sandburst.com