Network Processors - Architecture, Programming, and Implementation



Elsevier Inc. | ISBN 978-0-12-370891-5 | ENGLISH | PDF | 737 PAGES | 10.34 MB

Introduction
Network processors (NPs) are chips—programmable devices that can process network packets (up to hundreds of millions of them per second), at wire-speeds of multi-Gbps. Their ability to perform complex and fl exible processing on each packet, as well as the fact that they can be programmed and reprogrammed as required, make them a perfect and easy solution for network systems vendors developing packet processing equipment.
Network processors are about a decade old now and they have become a fundamental and critical component in many high-end network systems and demanding network processing environments.
This chapter introduces this relatively new processing paradigm, and provide a high-level perspective of what NPs are, where to use them and why, and conclude with a brief description of the contents of the rest of the book.

NETWORK PROCESSORS ECOSYSTEM
Telecommunications and data networks have become essential to everything that we do, to our well-being and to all of our requirements. The prevalence of Internet technology, cable TV (CATV), satellite broadcasting, as well as fi xed and cellular mobile telephony, tie many and expanding services to a very large population that is growing exponentially. The increasing speed of the communication links has triggered a wide range of high-speed networks, followed by an increasingly broad spectrum of services and applications.
We are witnessing this dramatic growth in communication networks and services; just think of the changes that networks and services have undergone in the past 10 years in the areas of mobile, video, Internet, information availability, TV, automation, multimedia, entertainment, online services, shopping, and multiplayer games. You can safely assume that an equivalent jump in technology and services will happen again in the next 5 years or so.

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