IBM Expands Network Processor Family

The newest member of the company's network processor family, the PowerNP NP2G, is targeted for low- to mid-range networking equipment running at 2 Gb/s. The device, fully code compatible with other members of the family, achieves up to 6.1 million packets per second of throughput. It is designed to fill a broad spectrum of needs for networking applications such as security, enhanced quality of service, voice over IP, load balancing, and encryption in networking equipment such as base stations, access routers, firewalls, and servers. The PowerNP NP2G achieves its performance by utilizing a run-to-completion architectural model. In this design, each of the 12 deep packet processing engines has access to the full 128 KB of on-chip instructions, allowing them to completely process each packet in parallel. Additionally, the NP2G contains more than 60 distributed co-processor hardware functions, which enables the processing engines to be 100% utilized for protocol processing. General samples of the PowerNP NP2G are available immediately with production quantities in June. IBM MICROELECTRONICS, East Fishkill, NY. (800) 426-4968