To accommodate such unprecedented explosion in data traffic, data centers are springing up in a drove, but virtual traffic jam still prevail. That’s where knowledge-based processors, or KBPs come to the rescue.
KBPs are a sort of network processors that power search engines, enabling data centers to process search requests.
As the communications industry’s rapid migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is driving demand for 4 times larger databases for Layers 2-4 processing to accommodate a growing number of connected devices, KBPs are in high demand.
To keep up, Broadcom Corporation has started sampling NLA12000 Series knowledge-based processors, or KBP in what he chip maker said is the industry's first heterogeneous KBPs with a geometry of 28 nanometers.
The NLA12000 series is a parallel processing solution that upgrades performance in routers, switches, service gateways, security appliances and mobile infrastructure equipment by integrating knowledge-based processing hardware with NetRoute search technology. The integration translates into faster performance and lower power consumption.
Designed to meet growing demand for scalability and efficiency of 3G/4G mobile infrastructure, data center and enterprise environments, for example, the knowledge-based processors deliver up to 24 times faster search than competing solutions in the most demanding applications.
The NLA12000 Series KBPs are the industry's first of its kind ever to integrate an eighth generation massively parallel knowledge-based processing technology with innovative low-power NetRoute algorithmic search technology in a heterogeneous manner.
They can deliver the highest deterministic performance and low latency independent of database or signature complexity, with support for up to 2 million IPv6 routes.2
The combination of Broadcom's innovative NetRoute technology with the advanced 28nm process node also enables the NLA12000 Series KBPs to achieve the industry's lowest power footprint for IPv4 and IPv6 searches.
The chip performs 2.4 billion decisions per second (BDPS) to address growing line rates for IPv4 and IPv6 packets and also features 12.5 Gbps SerDes for 300 Gbps aggregate bandwidth. Its range encoding engine , or REE delivers efficient database compaction for access control lists.
Volume production is slated to roll off sometime in the first half of 2013.
Coupled with emerging trends such as software defined networking, or SDN and Open Flow, Broadcom expects equally strong demand for increased classification, forwarding and security processing throughout the network. That’s what its next generation of KBPs is supposed to deliver, Broadcom said.