Hello all The KAT offices were visited by Netronome last week. They have acquired Intel's network processor technology and design ASICs containing 10GbE MACs with lots of little processor cores (40). There's also an onboard ARM processor for control and monitoring, some onboard cache memory and interfaces to optional external memories. They also sell off-the-shelf cards with their processors to slot into COTS computers so you don't have to design your own board. The boards can also be used stand-alone (don't need a computer host).
These processors are designed for deep packet inspection and are used in routers and high end switches. They do exactly what many CASPERites are trying to do these days... processing streaming network data in realtime. Without a more in-depth study, it's difficult to quantify how much processing horsepower is available and how well our algorithms would map onto these devices. The cost of these devices is comparable with FPGAs but they have a nicer programming environment (C). They are also keen to work with us and have offered free access to their tools and are even willing to consider adding custom op-codes to their next-gen devices for us. They will be in the Bay area in February and I'd suggest those CASPERites nearby should get together for a chat. It looks like an interesting technology. If any CASPERites are interested in evaluating these devices, I can put you in contact with someone there and we can organise a copy of the compiler tools. Jason
