Multicore processors shaping flexible networks

Advancements in multicore processor technology are key to creating highly flexible networking systems, according to Heavy Reading, the research division of Light Reading.

Heavy Reading interviewed 11 multicore processor vendors in the second quarter of 2010, as well as previous interviews with all vendors covered and product documentation the vendors provided. The interviewed vendors agreed that multicore processors play a crucial role in high-performance networking systems adopted by the world's largest telecom equipment vendors. Flexibility, the vendors said, is now a key design criteria for all networking systems.

The respondents also revealed that 32nm/40nm/45nm technology are delivering significant integration gains as companies are able to pack onto a multicore processor up to 12MB of cache memory, up to 100 processor cores, a low-latency switch, and network interfaces supporting 100Gb/s or more.

In terms of competition and market share, Heavy Reading reported that Intel and AMD are competing directly with each other using quad-core HyperThreading Xeons and eight-core Opterons. Freescale dominates with 40nm integrated multicore processors in production.