Cavium Networks New OCTEON™
EXP Processors: First Multi-Gigabit Integration of Control and Data
Plane Processing for Networking & Storage Applications
OCTEON EXP offers up to 16x
MIPS64-based cores in a single chip to reduce cost and increase
performance and functionality for converged Control and Data-plane
applications
Mountain View, CA, August 22, 2005 –
Cavium Networks, a worldwide leader in security, network services
and embedded processor solutions, today announced the OCTEON
Multi-core MIPS64-based EXP Processor Family that enables the
integration of control and data-plane processing in next generation
service provider, enterprise and storage networking equipment.
The OCTEON EXP Multi-core MIPS64-based processor family addresses
the need of network equipment vendors merging control and data
plane processing with richer functionality at unprecedented
multi-gigabit rates using a standard C/C++ software-programming
model. OCTEON EXP processor family is being used by networking
and storage equipment vendors building Routers, Intelligent
Switches, Multi-service Access Equipment, Storage servers, Multi-protocol
Storage Switches, Boarder Session Gateways and other Wireless
Infrastructure Equipment.
Traditionally, control plane and data plane processing architecture
has been fragmented across performance ranges requiring disparate
software architectures and multiple software development efforts.
In low-end routers, both control and data plane functions are
implemented in a single CPU, called a communication processor.
In mid-range to high-end modular routers, multi-service access
equipment and wireless base station equipment, the control and
data plane processing is done in multiple chips consisting of
a general purpose processor, micro-code based network processor
and/or fixed function ASICs. The new OCTEON EXP processors enable
integrated control and data plane functionality to scale from
multi-100 Mbps rates to multi-Gigabit rates.
“As
OEMs are adding voice and video functions to both enterprise
and infrastructure equipment, the greater routing, provisioning,
and quality-of-service requirements are driving a convergence
of control and data plane processing," commented Linley
Gwennap, principal analyst at The Linley Group. "OCTEON's
multiple general-purpose processors and extensive data-plane
acceleration support this convergence at multi-gigabit speeds
while improving time to market with a simple programming model.”
OCTEON EXP Multi-core MIPS Processor for Control
and Data Plane Applications
For high-performance demands of control plane applications,
the OCTEON EXP offers an unparalleled 9.6GHz and 19.2 Billion
instructions/s of general-purpose processing available across
16, dual-issue, memory coherent, MIPS64 Release 2 based cores.
Each 600MHz MIPS64 core in OCTEON is built from the ground-up
with additional instructions for packet acceleration and a 32K
I-cache, 8K D-cache and 2KB write-back buffer.
For high-performance network throughput, OCTEON EXP integrates
dedicated packet processors for layer 2 – layer 4 parsing,
error checking, tagging and memory allocation. Additionally,
OCTEON EXP has three (3) high-performance, on-chip memory controllers.
The first memory interface supports 144bit wide, ECC-protected
DDR II DRAM up to 800Mbps data-rate, with capacity of up to
16GB and bandwidth greater than 100 Gbits/sec. Two additional
memory interfaces support 18bit wide low-latency RLDRAM2 / FCRAM2,
with low latency access and capacity of up to 1GB. This same
memory interfaces can be used to connect a TCAM(s) for offloading
lookups to an external hardware device. For higher layer data-plane
processing, OCTEON has dedicated hardware for TCP acceleration
and flow management to scale performance across multiple cores.
To reduce BOM cost, OCTEON EXP has integrated multiple standard
external networking interfaces with 4 to 8 Gigabit Ethernet
ports (RGMII) or dual (2x) SPI-4.2 interfaces along with a host/slave
PCI-X 64bit 133MHz interface that can be used as both a data
and control interface. OCTEON EXP also offers auxiliary interfaces
such as GPIO, Flash, MDIO, dual UARTs and 2wire serial interfaces.
“The OCTEON EXP is built using proven technology
first delivered to market with the highly successful Cavium
Networks OCTEON NSP family,” said Rajiv Khemani, Vice
President of Marketing, Cavium Networks. “With OCTEON
EXP, we have optimized the product specifically for integrated
control and data applications by reducing power, delivering
solutions for TCAM connectivity and critical 3rd
-party control plane software. Furthermore, OCTEON EXP is available
worldwide without any security-related export control restrictions”.
Scalable family and Standard Software Programming
Model
The OCTEON EXP family offers a complete software and footprint
compatible, scalable architecture that scales from 4 to 16 MIPS64-based
cores on a single chip with an array of integrated networking
interfaces, memory controllers and co-processors to enable 2Gbps
to 10Gbps of application performance at under 10Watts to 25Watts
. Standard software programming model includes C/C++, MIPS64
and MIPS32 compatibility, Linux operating system support, GNU
tool-chain and development environment along with support for
third party commercial operating systems and tools for porting
proprietary operating systems.
Pricing and
Availability
There are 4 different parts available in the OCTEON EXP family.
The CN38xx family offers 4, 8, 12 or 16 MIPS64-based cores in
a footprint compatible package. Production pricing for the OCTEON
EXP CN38xx family ranges from $350 to $650 in 10K unit quantities.
The OCTEON EXP family of processors is sampling today along
with the Development Kit including Simulator, tool-chain and
reference applications.
About Cavium Networks
Cavium Networks is a worldwide leader in security, network services
and embedded processor solutions. Cavium Networks' award-winning
NITROX and MIPS64-based OCTEON families of processors and accelerator
boards offer flexible, scalable and highly integrated solutions
delivering 50Mbps to 10Gbps performance. The company's products
are integrated into a wide range of networking equipment that
include routers, gateways, network appliances, content switches,
wireless LAN access/aggregation points, servers and storage
networking devices. Cavium Networks is headquartered in the
heart of Silicon Valley in Mountain View, CA with development
centers in Marlboro, MA and Hyderabad, India. For more information,
please visit: http://www.caviumnetworks.com
For additional information, contact:
Cavium Networks Contact:
Angel Atondo
Cavium Networks
805 East Middlefield Road,
Mountain View, CA 94043
Telephone: 650-623-7033
Email: angel.atondo@caviumnetworks.com
