Broadcom Announces 100 Gbps Full Duplex Network Processor

Broadcom announced its 100 Gbps full duplex network processor unit (NPU) aimed at the next wave of 100GbE optimized switches and routers for service provider networks.

The new BCM88030 family features 64 custom processors running at 1GHz and eliminates the need for many external components. Power savings are estimated at up to 80 percent per 10GbE port.

The architecture leverages extensive multi-threading and hardware acceleration for functions such as packet parsing, classification and look-ups. The BCM88030 family is completely user programmable, enabling a highly flexible forwarding implementations. The BCM88030 NPU family also includes a proprietary algorithmic look up engine using low cost DDR-3 DRAM that enables massive scale for Layer 2, IPv4 and IPv6 tables while significantly reducing system cost. Algorithmic on-chip access control list (ACL) capability is available along with seamless expansion using Broadcom's NL566xx knowledge based processor (KBP).

The BCM88030 family consists of three devices, including the 100 Gbps BCM88038 NPU, the 50 Gbps BCM88034 NPU and the BCM88032 24 Gbps NPU. All devices are now sampling with production volume slated for the second half of 2012.
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