Netronome has released the NFP-3240, a processor specifically designed for tight coupling with multicore Intel processors to accelerate network, security, and content processing up to 40 and 100Gbit/s.
The processor is suitable for a range of demanding networking applications. Customer designs include shared service blades in switches and routers, 3G and LTE wireless infrastructure, security appliances, and virtualided servers.
The processor features an array of 40 1.4GHz microengine RISC processors. Each microengine core supports eight simultaneous computing threads, enabling the processor to deliver 56 billion instructions per second. Additional hardware acceleration engines provide line-rate processing for PKI, bulk cryptography, and deep packet inspection. The processor's memory architecture features hardware accelerators for queues, atomic operations, and CAMs. By minimising the effects of memory stalls, an intelligent memory management system utilises dual DDR3 1333MHz and dual QDR SRAM channels that operate at up to 350MHz. High processing power and memory performance are required for critical L4-L7 networking applications designed for 40 to 100 gigabit networks.
Over 100Gbit/s of I/O options provide high processing power of the 40 microengines. The processor features an 8 lane PCIe 2.0 interface, dual 25Gbit/s Interlaken, dual 10GigE and 8x1 GigE MACs, dual 10Gbit/s XAUI, and SPI 4.2. Enhanced PCIe I/O virtualisation support enables the processor to seamlessly integrate with multicore Intel Architecture processors. This allows heterogeneous processing designs to be realised.
The processor's microengine cores are designed specifically for flow-based network and security processing. Microengines do not feature an overhead that generally limits the effective throughput to a few Gbit/s even when adding cores and increasing clock rates. These advantages for network processing enable high BIPS per watt when operating under full load at 30W. The processor's microengine cores are also compatible with Intel's IXP28XX network processors.
The new processor follows the IXP28XX line of network processors. It is supported by the C-compiler, a powerful simulation environment, a complete hardware development platform, and a library of hundreds of software flow processing functions. The processor 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 100Gbit/s designs. Configuration options span from 16 to 40 cores, operating at 1.0 or 1.4GHz, with optional cryptography support.
