Xelerated Packet Devices' new architecture promises networking at 40 Gbps (OC-768). The company is looking for manufacturing partners to round out its product suite.

by Wayne Kawamoto [July 23, 2001]

Xelerated Packet Devices, a fabless semiconductor company based in Sweden, recently announced its Xelerator family of programmable Network Processors, which should lead the development of 40 Gbps (OC-768) solutions for high-speed network equipment.

According to the company, its new architecture represents a quantum leap in terms of network processor design. Built-in programmability promises flexibility and open the possiblity of empowering the delivery of new services.

The architecture is based on a fully-programmable pipeline of exceptional width and length, scaling to 160 Gbps. The wire-speed performance is inherent in the architecture.

Xelerator Network Processors should also offer flexibility with regard to line-card design. The individual ports on each chip may be combined in a wide range of ways, depending on the customer's needs in terms of functionality and speeds, between 10 and 40 Gbps.

"Our product offering provides unique opportunities for both system vendors and ISPs," says Johan Borje, CEO of Xelerated Packet Devices. "With the outstanding scalability of our architecture and the resulting ability to use the same network processor for a multitude of system solutions, our customers can reap significant cost and time-to-market advantages. Yet our customers will maintain the ability to differentiate themselves on the market thanks to the extensive programmability capabilities of the network processors."

Mr Borje continues: "Xelerated's product offering will take networking and revenue opportunities for ISPs to the next level. Our network processors facilitate more advanced traffic handling such as MPLS, QoS, and statistics collection for billing and SLA management at entirely new network speeds. For the ISP this means new revenue streams."

"The 40 Gbps market is emerging right now," says Michael Pietrobono, Director of Research at Sterling Research. "Programmable solutions that can handle both 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps will be very attractive for system vendors. Combining programmability and performance is essential to allow network processors to enter the Service Provider Edge and Core segments. In combination with architectural scalability and development tools, this will keep system costs down over different product generations. These are the essential keys to success in this market."

In June of 2001, Xelerated announced a "First-toForty Partnership Program" through which it will reach out to complementary manufacturers as it builds a 40 Gbps solution.

Availability and pricing
The X40 will be available in April 2002.

Pricing has not yet been determined.

—End