College students choose Agere network processor

A new book adds fuel to the debate in the network processor industry about which network processors offer the best value and benefits.

During the past several years, debate has swirled in the network processor industry about which network processors offer the most value and benefits.

Agere Systems has added more fuel for debate following the publication of a new book containing six chapters about Agere's network processor technology.

Agere is the only network processor company featured in the new book by Doug Comer, an internationally recognised expert on computer networking and the Internet, as well as a distinguished professor of computer science at Purdue University.

The book, "Network systems design" highlights Agere's network processor hardware and software combined offering for achieving maximum attainable wire speeds; improving productivity of the software programmer using Agere's network processor; reducing costs of the programmer's modifications; helping to eliminate ambiguities and software program debugging; and spotting inconsistencies and errors.

The new book reveals that college students prefer using Agere's network processor to learn about electronics and computers because of its outstanding traffic management and packet classification capabilities.

"Students who enrol in classes of Purdue University have a choice among network processor platforms to use", said Comer.

"For projects that implement network processing applications which include sophisticated packet classification and/or traffic management, students usually choose the Agere network processor because it offers efficient high-level language programmability that students find convenient".

In another section of the book, Comer writes: "The mechanism used for packet classification is among the most interesting (and unusual) aspects of the Agere design".

"The Agere classifier offers two desirable qualities: it has sufficient speed to operate on the fast path, and is programmable in a high-level language".

In a section about Agere's network processor functional programming language (FPL), Comer writes: "Agere's language provides a convenient way for a programmer to specify a set of classification rules".

Comer writes that the mechanism for performing the network processor pattern matching is known as the pattern processing engine (PPE).

"The PPE, which is among the most interesting and important aspects of the APP550, forms the heart of the classifier block".

A network processor classification must supply two features, according to Comer.

"First, the network processor hardware must offer sufficient processing power to perform classification at wire speed".

"Second, the programming support facilities must offer a way for programmers to create correct and efficient classification code".

Comer along with his students have observed that the Agere chip contains a PPE to handle classification at wire speed.

The book also focuses on Agere's traffic management network processor capabilities that perform five major functions: policing traffic, queuing packets, scheduling and shaping traffic, modifying and outgoing packets, and transmitting each packet on the appropriate output port.

Three main areas examined are analysis of the company's network processor hardware, a description of a commercially available testbed environment for the chip, and a presentation of detailed programming examples.

"This book reveals that Agere's network processor hardware and software stand out for their usability in a wide range of communications equipment", said Samir Samhouri, Vice President with the Agere Systems Telecommunications Division.

"Our customers benefit from this new Comer book because it offers independent, expert evaluation of our chip in great detail".

"Network systems design" is published by Pearson Prentice Hall (www.prenhall.com).

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