If nothing else, next-gen applications and services gobble up large amounts of bandwidth, which can be troublesome if one happens to be a service provider wanting to offer exciting new, churn-reducing services to subscribers.

 

Video (IPTV and mobile video) and mobile broadband in general (4G, LTE (News - Alert), WiMAX, etc.) will finally eliminate the “fiber glut” and force providers and network operators to replace networks elements, substituting in their place the latest high-end AdvancedTCA (ATCA) computing, switching, gateway and signaling platforms capable of handling 10 Gbps Ethernet. (Research firm IDC reports that 55 percent of network equipment providers already implement ATCA and another 20 percent are evaluating the technology for future use).

 

Indeed, Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (News - Alert), recently expanded its ATCA blade portfolio by introducing a new, second generation, multi-core processor blade, the ATCA-9305, that’s designed to help network equipment providers (NEPs) improve the total cost of ownership and competitive advantage of their data and control plane products.

 

The ATCA-9305 is Emerson’s second ATCA high-performance blade based on Cavium Networks’ (News - Alert) OCTEON multi-core processors. Indeed, the ATCA-9305 has dual Cavium OCTEON PLUS 16-core processors, enabling network equipment of which it is a part to handle both data plane and control plane applications on the same hardware, improving the price/performance ratio and helping NEPs to focus on quickly delivering new and differentiated services.

 

Significant increases in packet and control processing capability along with advanced integrated hardware acceleration make this second generation blade ideal for data plane elements in applications such as 4G/LTE wireless, WiMAX (News - Alert) and IPTV. The blade also is appropriate for control plane applications, network gateway and edge functions, and security processing. In addition, the multi-core technology built into the ATCA-9305 benefits both the customer and the environment by saving energy through increased application performance per watt compared to general purpose blades.

 

New features include RLDRAM (Reduced Latency Dynamic Random Access Memory), enabling the ATCA-9305 to be optimized for deep packet inspection in telecom networks, as well as the availability of onboard 10Gbps Ethernet switch, which allows more flexibility as customers can select the routing of the data path. Additionally, a PCI Express x4 port lane enables the design of a custom rear transition module (RTM) with storage.

 

Emerson Network Power is currently the only supplier that offers two ATCA Cavium blades. To learn more, visit www.EmersonNetworkPower.com/EmbeddedComputing.