Product category:
Networking Hardware
News Release from: Performance Technologies | Subject: FlexTunnel and PMC8300
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 30 September 2004
Modules accelerate packet processing
tasks
Performance Technologies has added two elements to its line of specialised products designed to eliminate packet processing bottlenecks and allow OEMs to handle new IP networking tasks at wire speed.
Performance Technologies has added two new elements to its line of specialised products designed to eliminate packet processing bottlenecks and allow OEMs to handle new IP networking tasks at wire speed Most of today's application designs have shifted to packet-based architectures, and embedded systems are following suit
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 4 Jul 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Performance Technologies' new "Accelerator" products enable OEMS to instil products with advanced networking features emerging as key elements in deploying leading-edge solutions.
The company's new FlexTunnel module acts as a gateway for each element in a distributed system, allowing a number of remote, private networks to be easily connected via private IP "tunnels".
Also being introduced today is the PMC8300 packet processing engine, which allows more efficient processing on host single board computers by offloading packet processing tasks onto a specialised hardware PMC mezzanine for storage, encryption and general Ethernet-based communications requirements.
Further reading
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The IPnexus Advanced Managed Platform line is a new generation of fully managed packet-based platforms.
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The IPnexus CPC5702 is the newest and most powerful member in the family of Intel-based single board computers from Performance Technologies.
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"Contemporary embedded systems, such as Performance Technologies' Advanced Managed Platforms, are shifting to packet architectures like Ethernet to address system scalability and performance challenges".
"Our new Accelerator solutions are optimised around these requirements", said Jim Medeiros, Vice President of Marketing for Performance Technologies.
"These products implement a consistent approach to removing packet processing bottlenecks, which will result in improved performance in existing embedded systems with scalability to support future requirements".
Performance Technologies' FlexTunnel module is the first and only hardware-based embedded tunnelling solution on the market.
By offloading tunnelling tasks from the switch processor, the FlexTunnel module can maintain superior chassis-to-chassis connections as well as better intrachassis throughput.
This PTMC module can be directly attached to several members of Performance Technologies' award-winning Ethernet switch family, including the CPC4416 and CPC5400 embedded Ethernet switches.
By combining wire-speed switching and tunnel routing functions in a single slot, this unique solution saves crucial chassis space, while enhancing system security, manageability, resiliency and extensibility.
The PMC8300 is the first solution to offer an integrated transport and storage offload engine coupled with increasingly important security protocols such as IPsec.
The PMC8300 removes the burden of processing tasks such as TCP/IP, iSCSI storage interfacing, encryption and authentication from the host CPU, which can exceed 80% of the host's utilisation.
By offloading these tasks, the host is free to perform application processing with increased CPU cycles, thus improving system density.
Additionally, the PMC8300 offers an option for creating highly reliable, highly available, secure and managed IP storage for a fraction of the cost and space of traditional storage area network (SAN) approaches.
Although the PMC8300 can be attached directly onto any board supporting PMC expansion allowing network engineers to easily design, manage and maintain system solutions, Performance Technologies' CPC5505 Intel Pentium M-based Single Board Computer provides the PMC8300 with the added capability to speak directly to the backplane, removing the need for cabling while providing wire-speed performance.
Performance Technologies' FlexTunnel module will be generally available in November 2004, and pricing starts at $3995.
General availability for the PMC8300 is December 2004.
List price is $1900 with initial support for iSCSI and follow on support for additional protocols in the first half of 2005.
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