EZchip offers 10-Gbit traffic manager as chip, core

By closely matching its network processor and traffic manager, EZchip hopes to optimize the movement of data through the data path, Futcher said. The NP-1 can define data, make forwarding decisions and classify its flow while the traffic manager handle tasks such as queuing, congestion management, per-flow queuing and hier archical scheduling, he said.

The QX-1 supports a host of interfaces on the fabric and system side. Designers using this part can connect to a switch fabric using either a CSIX or SPI 4.2-based streaming interface. Designers can link up with framers or Ethernet multiplexers using either a 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface, an OC-192 interface, four OC-48 interfaces, 16 OC-12 interfaces or 16 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.

Despite the variety of I/O options, designers may still want different interfaces. To accommodate them, Futcher said EZchip will license an IP core version of the QX-1 for use on Xilinx Inc.'s Virtex FPGAs.

The QX-1 is sampling now priced at $695 each in 10,000-unit quantities. Pricing for the QX-1 core involves a $50,000 one-time fee and a $50 per-copy fee.