Issue 1 March 2009

Entering 2009 at high speed! 

As the new Marketing Coordinator, I am proud to send you this TPACK newsletter, which is packed with plenty of new product information in the 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps space. There are also interesting back-ground articles and white papers about such hot topics as Packet-Optical Transport Networks and green semiconductor design.

Although the current market situation is uncertain, we know at TPACK
that the basic need for increasing packet transport bandwidth still exists. Therefore, we are determined in our continued support of our existing products deployed all over the globe. Additionally, we know that now is
the time for developing products and solutions for the future when the crisis has passed, and this is why we continue to invest in 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps products for the future P-OTN networks.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter and will find the information useful.

Kind regards,

Pernille Kennedy, TPACK

Contents:

• New product release: TPX4004 Carrier Packet Engine
• Hear TPACK, Alcatel-Lucent and Ciena on Understanding Packet Optical Transport Networks at IIR's Packet Transport Networks
• TPACK part of 100 Gbps project with the Advanced Technology Foundation
• TPACK featured in new Linley Group report on Network Processors 
• TPACK presents Carrier Ethernet Package Switching in Optical Transport at Linley Group Carrier Ethernet Equipment Design Seminar
• White paper: Power-Optimized Solutions for Telecom Applications

New TPX4004 Carrier Packet Engine

The TPX4004 is designed for use in Carrier Ethernet and Packet Transport applications. Focusing on Carrier Ethernet and MPLS support at Layer 2/2.5, the TPX4004 addresses the emerging need for packet intelligence in Transport Networks. In this regard, it includes a number of features not typically included in Enterprise Ethernet switches or router packet processor chips. For example, the TPX4004 includes support for all major metro protocols including PBB-TE, PBB, VPLS and the emerging MPLS-TP. It also includes hardware-based OAM support for these protocols with extremely fast OAM transmission/reception (3.3ms period) allowing sub-50ms hardware-based Automatic Protection Switching. TPX4004 also includes configurable support for 9 layers of hierarchical traffic management.

This product is an upgrade of an existing TPACK Carrier Packet Engine product (TPX3103) with an increase of switching capacity from a total of 52 Gbps to 80 Gbps, addition of hierarchical traffic management, the ability to add and take away traffic management and Virtual Output Queuing, evolving support for MPLS-TP (which can be updated due to the use of an FPGA platform), and integrated SERDES allowing serial interfaces.

There is an emerging need for more intelligent packet support in traditional transport platforms. This is being reflected in the ratification of more transport focused packet protocols, such as PBB-TE by IEEE, T-MPLS by ITU-T and MPLS-TP by IETF. In each of these protocols, there is a need for integrated, hardware-based OAM and Automatic Protection Switching, multiple protocol support, the ability to interoperate with legacy transport protocols, such as SONET/SDH and OTN and a greater level of reliability and resiliency with extensive traffic management support. This requires a focused, yet intelligent switch component that provides a more rugged and feature rich solution than evolved Enterprise switches. Alternative solutions based on NPUs or in-house programming of FPGAs require complex programming and a high level of expertise, which is not readily available. NPUs are also limited in their flexibility (confined to packet processing) and often lack key capabilities, such as hardware based OAM.

The TPX4004 thus provides a focused solution, with the right features that can be adapted quickly (since the solution is based on an FPGA). With the latest FPGA generations, prices and power consumption are close to ASSP levels, which means that customers can get a comparable solution to an ASSP, with more features, that can be adapted without taking the huge expense and time delay of programming an NPU or FPGA themselves. The TPX4004 simply provides the best of both worlds!

For more info on TPX4004 click here

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TPACK selected to participate in a 100 Gbps project with the Advanced Technology Foundation

The Internet has become so popular that the demand for speed will continue to increase over time. Right now, Danish researchers are therefore working to boost the capacity on the network.

Researchers from the Photonics unit at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have paired up with TPACK and Enigma Semiconductor to develop line cards for routers to the IP layer to be able to handle traffic volumes up to 100 Gbps - 10 times higher than the current capacity.

Over the past few years, consumers have seen the capacity of their broadband connections (DSL/fiber/mobile broadband) increase by more than a factor of 100. At the same time people's consumption patterns have changed towards services, where they are online for long periods of time, for example from SMS, e-mails and still images to bandwidth-intensive services such as IP TV, YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, games, grid computing. These changes necessitate an expansion of the capacity of the Internet, which is what the technology of the partners can do.

TPACK and Enigma Semiconductor have each contributed with approx. 15 mio. DKK to the research pool for the project, which combined now amounts to 45 mio. DKK after the Advanced Technology Foundation supported with 14.5 mio. DKK.

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TPACK participated in The Linley Group's Carrier Ethernet Seminar

TPACK recently participated in The Linley Group's one-day Carrier Ethernet Seminar in San Jose, CA.

The seminar focused on the latest trends in the design of network processors, packet processors, transport processors, and PHY components for applications such as Ethernet aggregation, Ethernet access, and packet-optical transport.

At the seminar, TPACK's CTO Lars A. Pedersen presented "Carrier Ethernet Packet Switching in Optical Transport", which addressed the particular needs of layer 2 switching in optical transport networks including Packet Optical Transport Networks (P-OTN). The introduction of P-OTN has created the need for a new set of chip solutions focused on optical packet transport. This includes Packet Transport Switching, which provides native packet switching capabilities in optical transport networks as a complement to traditional packet mapping functionality. Packet Transport Switching functionality allows P-OTN nodes to provide MEF-defined Carrier Ethernet connectivity services, such as E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree and thus provides an alternative platform to Carrier Ethernet Switch Routers. In this presentation, TPACK examined the focused needs of packet transport switching and how these can be addressed using SOFTSILICON and Universal Linecard approaches.

See the full presentation: Carrier Ethernet Packet Switching in Optical Transport

If you missed the seminar on Carrier Ethernet Equipment Design, you can download the proceedings and get the latest information on network processors, packet processors, transport processors, and PHY components for applications such as Ethernet aggregation, Ethernet access, and packet-optical transport.

In addition to Lars A. Pedersen's presentation, the seminar included presentations from AMCC, EZchip, Xelerated, SafeNet, IP Infusion, and NetLogic. For a free copy, visit The Linley Group's web site.

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