networkZONE Products for the week of January 30, 2006
Updated February 1, 2006

Cavium Networks Says…
Cavium's Low-Cost Processors Blend MIPS64 RISCs and Hardware Engines to Deliver L2-7 Processing, QoS, and Security for Next-Gen Networks
New OCTEON SOC processors introduce highly integrated, cost effective 64-bit computing for Networking, Wireless, Control and Storage applications

Cavium Networks has unveiled ten new highly integrated single and dual core MIPS64 processors. The new SOC (system on a chip) processors integrate a custom MIPS64 processor core with the industry's most advanced multi-layer application acceleration and security processing hardware, along with a wide range of networking I/O options to deliver breakthrough features and price/performance for next generation networking, wireless, control and storage applications. The new OCTEON CN31XX and CN30XX family of processors are fully software compatible with the market leading OCTEON CN38XX family of multi-core processors. The OCTEON family now delivers the industry's most scalable line of compatible MIPS64 processors from single core to sixteen cores which enables OEMs to build equipment at a wide range of price performance points with a common software code base that results in dramatic reductions in development cost and time to market. The OCTEON processor family is being designed into a wide array of networking equipment, including routers, switches, unified threat management (UTM) appliances, application-aware gateways, triple-play gateways, WLAN and 3G access and aggregation devices and storage networking equipment.

Secure, Content and Application Aware Networks
Networks are evolving to deliver a flexible mix of data, voice and video content. In addition, application delivery mandates the need to process intelligent Layer 3 to Layer 7 data and content at line rate. Multi-layer security including encryption, authentication, Intrusion Prevention and Anti-Virus has also become a necessity. Existing processors lack the horsepower to meet the demands of today's networks. Current solutions use a GHz class processor along with several coprocessors and FPGAs that results in unacceptably high cost and power. The new OCTEON CN31XX and CN30XX processors have been architected to address all the requirements for next generation IPv4 and IPv6 networks cost effectively. The OCTEON processors integrate extensive hardware acceleration options for Layer 3 to Layer 7 data, content processing and security services. These accelerators offload the MIPS CPU and reduce CPU clock rates required to achieve Gigabit line rates resulting in a substantial reduction in power and cost.

"With its groundbreaking 16-core OCTEON, Cavium Networks pioneered the highly integrated, general-purpose multi-core architecture to enable standard C-based programming and high packet throughputs," said Linley Gwennap, Principal Analyst at the Linley Group. "Extending the same innovation, integration and application acceleration in a software compatible manner to single and dual-core price points will fuel extensive deployment of intelligent networks."

The OCTEON CN31XX and CN30XX Family of Processors
The OCTEON CN31XX and CN30XX processors are based on the same custom cnMIPS64 CPU core as in the currently available CN38XX and CN36XX family of processors. The core has been developed from the ground up for the highest networking and services performance with very low power consumption. The cnMIPS core is the industry's first implementation of MIPS64 Release 2 instruction set with a 5-stage, dual-issue superscalar architecture, sophisticated pre-fetching and optimized cache and memory latencies. Each processor has 1 or 2 cnMIPS cores, along with up to 256KB L2 cache and features an extensive set of I/Os including Gigabit Ethernet networking interfaces, PCI/PCI-X, DDR2, USB 2.0 with PHY, TDM/PCM for Voice applications, and other standard I/O such as GPIO, SPI, UARTs and Expansion bus. The processors vary in frequency from 300MHz to 550MHz. Maximum power consumption of the parts ranges from 2 Watts to 7 Watts while application performance ranges from several hundred Mbps to 2Gbps throughput.

In addition, the CN31xx and CN30XX processors are available with an extensive set of hardware acceleration options. Each processor is available in CP (Communication Processor), SCP (Secure Communication Processor) and NSP (Network Services Processor, available on CN31XX only) versions. The CP version includes hardware acceleration for Packet Processing, TCP, Queuing/Scheduling and QoS. The SCP version adds acceleration for IPsec/SSL, SRTP and WLAN security. The NSP further adds acceleration for Deep Packet Inspection and Compression/Decompression. Details of application acceleration features are:

Extensive L2-L4 hardware based packet processing and buffer management engines for IPv4 and IPv6 packets

OCTEON 30XX Processors for SOHO/SME and Control-Plane Applications
The OCTEON 30XX Processor Family includes the CN3005 and CN3010 Processors. The CN3005 processor includes a cnMIPS core at up to 400MHz, 64KB L2 cache, 16 bit DDR2, two GE interfaces, 32/66 PCI, USB 2.0 in a 350pin BGA package with a low power consumption of 2-3W. The CN3010 processor include a cnMIPS processor core at up to 500MHz, 128KB L2 cache, 32 bit DDR2, 3 GE interfaces, TDM/PCM, 32/66 PCI, USB 2.0 in a 525pin BGA package with 2-4W power consumption. Each processor is available in CP and SCP versions. These processors are ideal for wired and wireless (802.11a/b/g/n) broadband routers, gateways, wireless access points and home NAS products.

Standard Operating System and C Software
OCTEON processors support standard operating systems including Linux, MontaVista Linux and Wind River VxWorks along with a thin executive for fast-path data-plane software. Cavium Networks provides a complete Software Development Kit with Linux, Software examples, GNU tool-chain, GDB development environment and popular third party tool-chain and development support that enables thousands of MIPS32, MIPS64 and other C/C++ applications to be easily ported to OCTEON. Additionally, Cavium Networks provides APIs and software toolkits for IPsec, SSL and TCP stacks, to enable quick time to market.

"The new OCTEON processors are a result of our relentless focus on top-to-bottom scalability and leverage our extensive expertise and core competence in networking, security and application delivery. These products will enable OEM customers to deliver high performance, cost effective products for secure, content aware networks, said Syed Ali, President and CEO of Cavium Networks. "With this addition to the OCTEON family, we now offer the broadest lineup of integrated MIPS64 processors to enable unprecedented software re-use by our customers across a wide range of price and performance points."

analogZONE Says . . .

Sometimes less is more. And in this case, Cavium's scaled-down version of its multi-gigabit Octeon series may be much more, in terms of the markets it can reach. While not every application can afford the power of 8 or 16 MIPS processors, their latest right-sized devices may be just the thing to address the growing processing demands imposed by growing LAN/WAN bandwidth, triple play services, multi-function products, and new security requirements. By pairing an efficient MIPS64 R2 RISC core engine with the right assortment of hardware cores, you can handle all those nasty control plane functions at a fraction of the cost and power that a traditional GHz-speed Pentium-class processor and a the obligatory external hardware would suck up.

This family of single- and dual-core MIPS processors sport integrated hardware cores for compression, security, TCP offload and pattern matching that are adapted from their high-end ($300 - $600) 16-core Octeon 8100 series, but with pricing that starts at under $20, it makes it much more appropriate for high-volume applications.

Without using up too much silicon, Cavium's tucked away several high-value functions, including packet inspection processing and security. It also has a TCP acceleration engine that's sort of a poor man's TOE which supports Layer 4+ applications at up to 2 Gbit/s. See Cavium's detailed press release (above) for details. And since these chips are intended for cost-sensitive, high-volume applications, many designers will appreciate the integrated USB 2.0 interface (including PHY!) which will come in handy for everything from a host system interface to running hard drives, cameras, or other peripherals. Likewise the chip thoughtfully offers a choice of Ethernet interfaces which can support a single low-cost GbE port via a GMII connection, or up to three GbE ports using its RGMII connection.

The excellent balance of programmable general-purpose and processing specialized hardware cores should make this family of parts excellent candidates for consumer products like storage systems, multi-media-aware routers and gateways (see Fig. 1) as well as mid-range access CPE. Given the price/performance ratio of these little critters, I also would not be surprised to find them hanging on blades of higher-end media servers and other applications which need lots of intelligence and/or security functionality at their edge. And the value they offer will certainly give the excellent packet-oriented processors like Freescale's Power QUICC series and Intel's IXP4xx family some stiff competition for those sockets.

About the only caveat I'll offer in my endorsement of these fine chips are some reports I've had of "software difficulties." I have not been able to pin down whether these problems are a function of the chip being difficult to program, problems with the extensive tool set that Cavium provides, or the quality of their reference software. To be honest I have not been able to determine whether these reports are completely credible, but I thought I should at least mention them to you. If I hear anything more substantial -- either pro or con -- I'll be sure to update my review and bring it to your attention.

The OCTEON CN31XX will sample in Q1 2006 and the OCTEON CN30XX in Q2 2006. Pricing for the former will range from $49 to $125 in 10-k piece lots and for the latter from $19 to $39 in 50-k piece lots.

Editor's Note: When reporting on products I do my dead-level best to get my facts straight and present as much information as I can to you. It's in this spirit that I passed on the vague rumblings I'd heard about "software problems" with some of Cavium's development tools in this review. But in the rush to get the review out I was not able to get all the facts and had mixed feelings whether the information I'd passed on was actually useful. So, rather than let it slide, I went back to my source and got a few more details which should help clarify matters and set most concerns to rest about Cavium's excellent software.

It turns out that, for the most part, Cavium's large investment in its software tool set has paid off in a great development environment that makes the multi-core devices about as easy and straightforward to program as anything of this complexity can be. The only small rub is in their RegEX (regular expression) packet inspection engine cores, found on some of their higher-end devices. Given the complex nature of these specialized analysis engines, it's not surprising to hear a few customer reports that the development software does not make the job of configuring the RegEX cores as easy as it does for most of the other RISC processors, security engines, and other elements of Cavium's IP bestiary. While not a show-stopper, it could hamper some development efforts until Cavium brings this element of its toolset up to the high standards it upholds for the rest of its offerings. Knowing Cavium's conscientious approach to customer support, I'm sure that they will address this issue as part of their normal upgrade cycle but, for the moment it's something to be aware of.

Lee's Saltshaker Rating

analogZONE
(c) 2006. All rights reserved.