Carrier Ethernet

Xelerated (News - Alert), a provider of network processing and programmable Ethernet switching solutions, has begun volume production of its HX family of 100G network processors (NPU) for packet-OTN, mobile backhaul/PTN and Carrier Ethernet Switch-Routers.

The company is using its HX family of NPUs in 20 systems. The first of these will go to production later this year. These NPUs enable system vendors to significantly scale their system, while meeting strict power budgets because they reduce power consumption per processed gigabit of traffic by 67 percent.

"System vendors are increasingly faced with power budget restrictions as they scale to accommodate new services and greater port densities," said Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group, in a statement. "Xelerated's 100G NPU is hitting a sweet spot in designs where programmability is required but footprint and power budget are scarce."

Earlier in March, Xelerated announced the addition of HX336, a wirespeed single-chip NPU with advanced traffic management and deep packet buffering for 100GbE/OTU4 systems to its HX family NPUs.

The HX family is designed for pizza box and line card slot capacities of 20-200 Gbps. The HX NPU family was the first to demonstrate 100G wirespeed network processing last year. The inherent wirespeed processing and advanced traffic management with deep packet buffering enables system vendors to tackle the challenges associated with adding new services and features to their Ethernet and IP/MPLS data planes.

In packet-OTN systems, the HX NPU enables Ethernet/MPLS services for 100 Gbps of traffic using a single chip. Designed for aggregation and transport, these line cards support a range of interface types including GE, 10GE, 40GE, 100GE and OTU0-OTU4. The HX family also implements complete L2 and L3 switch-router applications in mobile backhaul.

"The high demand for the HX family of NPUs is due to its combination of low power consumption, programmable wirespeed processing and integration of advanced traffic management," said Anders Ericsson (News - Alert), Xelerated vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement."We are thrilled about some of our new customer projects now going into production. These platforms have the potential to reshape the Carrier Ethernet market."