EZchip expands the role of the network processor

• EZchip's NPS-400 will be a 200Gbps duplex chip capable of layer 2 to layer 7 network processing
• The device is being aimed at edge routers and the data centre
• First samples by year end

EZchip Semiconductor has announced a class of network processor capable of performing traditional data plane processing as well as higher layer networking tasks.
EZchip's announced NPS will extend the role of the network processor to encompass layer two to layer seven of the network. Source: EZchip
"It [the device family] is designed to provide processing for all the networking layers, from layer two all the way to layer seven," says Amir Eyal, EZChip’s vice president of business development. Network processors typically offer layer-two and layer-three processing only.

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Network processors to support multiple 100 Gigabit flows

EZchip Semiconductor has disclosed the first 200 Gigabit-per-second network processor chip. The NP-5 will double the packet processing performance of the company’s existing NP-4 network processor and will sample at the end of 2012.  

“We don’t know of any device, announced at least, that comes close to this”

Amir Eyal, EZchip

The NP-5 is noteworthy in integrating within a single chip a full-duplex 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) packet processor and traffic manager. Such integration is important as line cards move from 100Gbps to 400Gbps densities, says Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group.

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