Intel's Next-Generation Communications Platform Key to Accelerated Network Services
Forthcoming Platform to Boost Secure Network Performance, Scale with
Needs of the Future
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
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New communications platform will consolidate packet, application and
control processing on Intel® architecture for more efficient
processing of multimedia content without sacrificing security.
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Scalable platform to enable faster time to market and lower
development costs for equipment manufacturers with better network
efficiency for service providers. New platform will further expand
Intel's offerings for the network infrastructure.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Intel
Corporation today disclosed several significant features for the
company's next-generation communications platform, codenamed "Crystal
Forest." Building upon Intel's strong presence in communications
infrastructure, the platform will handle data processing across the
network more efficiently and securely, while addressing the specialized
needs for handling cloud connectivity and content processing.
Each minute of the day, 30 hours of video are uploaded across the
network, and by 2015 it is estimated to take 5 years to watch all the
video crossing IP networks each second.1 As these numbers
continue to climb, the burden will be on equipment manufacturers and
service providers to deliver platform solutions that can
cost-effectively manage rapidly increasing traffic without compromising
performance and security.
Currently, equipment manufacturers must combine a variety of highly
specialized silicon co-processors with different software programming
models to handle multiple communications workloads when building
platforms for a scalable network — a very complex and expensive
endeavor. With Crystal Forest, equipment manufacturers will be able to
consolidate three communications workloads — application, control and
packet processing — on multi-core Intel architecture processors
to deliver better performance and accelerate time to market. They can
also develop a scalable product line based on multiple Intel processor
options to plan for future performance increases.
"The demand for increased network performance will continue to grow as
more smart devices connect to the Internet every day," said Rose
Schooler, general manager of Intel's Communications Infrastructure
Division. "And with the popularity of social networking and other
high-bandwidth services, such as video and photo uploads/downloads,
interactive video, crowdcasting and online gaming, service providers
will be challenged to efficiently provision sufficient upstream capacity
and manage the spike in network traffic."
Intel's next-generation communications platform, Crystal Forest, is
expected to deliver up to 160 million packets per second performance for
Layer 3 packet forwarding, making it possible to send thousands of
high-definition videos across each network node. Previously, only ASIC
or specialized processors were capable of sending more than 100 million
packets per second. The Intel ® Data Plane Development Kit, a
set of software libraries and algorithms, improves the performance and
throughput of packets on Intel architecture platforms to yield more than
five times the performance over previous generations of Intel platforms.
Crystal Forest will also utilize Intel® QuickAssist
technology, which processes and accelerates specialized packet workloads
- cryptography, compression and deep packet inspection included — on
standard Intel platforms. Using this technology, secure Internet
transactions can be accelerated up to 100Gbps on the platform to give
service providers the ability to handle many more secure transactions
and without the cost of specialized solutions. The network will also be
able to evolve to provide "always-on" secure Internet connections, as
opposed to the opt-in connections currently used on select applications
or for financial transactions online.
Designed to Grow with the Network
The Crystal Forest platform will enable equipment manufacturers to
design more flexible platforms, from small- to medium-sized business
firewalls to high-end routers. Service providers, too, can save money by
deploying fewer complex platforms, making their network easier to manage
and maintain. The Intel platform roadmap plans to deliver annual
performance refreshes for several years, so equipment manufacturers and
service providers will be able to scale and refresh their designs to
meet future network needs. Additionally, Crystal Forest will use a
common application programming interface and common drivers so that
multiple designs can be implemented in much less time and at much lower
development costs.
Full System Simulation of the Crystal Forest Platform
Developers can accelerate software development, testing and integration
by utilizing a simulation model of the Crystal Forest platform provided
by Wind
River Simics*. With Simics, users can model any Crystal Forest
target configuration and then run unmodified target software on that
model. Wind River Simics enables developers to do BIOS bring-up,
operating-system optimization and application development more
efficiently.
The new platform is scheduled to be available later in 2012. For more
information visit the Intel
newsroom.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The
company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the
foundation for the world's computing devices. Additional information
about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com
and blogs.intel.com.
1 Cisco®
Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2010-2015
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the
United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be
claimed as the property of others.
Intel Corporation
Krystal Temple, 480-552-1760
krystal.temple@intel.com
Danielle
Mann, 973-997-1154
danielle.mann@intel.com
Source: Intel Corporation
News Provided by Acquire Media
Released Feb 14, 2012 • 12:00 AM EST
