IP Fabrics Announces Intel® IXP2350-based PCI Express Development Platform

PCI Express board with dual IXP2350 NPUs fills the market need for an advanced development vehicle that is also a deployable platform.

Beaverton, OR – May 3, 2005 - IP Fabrics, Inc., a developer of leading-edge software for network processor silicon, announces its ‘Double Espresso’ dual IXP2350 PCI Express board. This board, combined with IP Fabrics’ PPL (Packet Processing Language) software, shortens the time required to create, test, and deploy high-performance networking and communications equipment by completely integrating network processor (NPU) and PCI Express technologies.

The Double Espresso board fills the market need for a development vehicle that is also a deployable design.  Since Double Espresso is a standard PCI Express add-in board, the developer can easily integrate the NPU packet processing function with the host CPU control plane function. The result is a low-cost, broadly-applicable IXP2350 platform.  

“Double Espresso is the ideal platform for creating networking and communications applications,” says Glen Myers, IP Fabrics CEO.  “Its standard PCI Express form factor makes IP Fabrics’ Double Espresso compatible with many existing and future servers and network appliances.  And users will be able to start creating and running software on the board in hours using PPL.”

In addition to offering the board in single and multiple unit quantities, IP Fabrics will also integrate the Double Espresso in an appliance-type server, pre-loaded with its PPL for IXP23xx software, yielding a complete ‘plug-and-go’ development system or enterprise communications platform reference system.

About IP Fabrics’ Double Espresso Development Platform 

IP Fabrics’ Double Espresso is the first deployable platform to combine two Intel IXP2350 network processors with a PCI Express interface.  Each network processor is supported with 640MB of DDR DRAM and an additional 8MB of external QDR-II SRAM.  The network processors can be uniquely configured to operate as ingress/egress, pipelined, or independent NPU subsystems.  Double Espresso’s I/O includes four 10/100/1000 Base-T data plane Ethernet connections along with two 10/100 Base-T management/console Ethernet connections. The board is compatible with x8 PCI Express expansion slots.

IP Fabrics’ PPL for Intel IXP23XX network processors includes all the software needed to create, test, and deploy applications for the Intel IXP23XX product line. PPL’s high-level programming significantly reduces the development time required to implement “deep packet processing” applications such as intrusion detection, voice-over-Internet, anti-spam, anti-virus, web filtering, content switching, Internet traffic management, and application-level cryptography compared to programming in assembly language or C.

IP Fabrics’ innovative PXD add-on module for PPL provides very high-speed packet transfer and remote procedure call mechanisms between Intel IXP and host CPU processors using PCI Express. PXD is seamlessly integrated and is packaged as an add-on to the PPL for IXP23XX and PPL for IXP28XX software products.

Pricing and Availability

Double Espresso pricing is $3175 for the first unit, with lower pricing for subsequent units.  Additionally, the Double Espresso design and manufacturing intellectual property is available for licensing.  

PPL for IXP23XX pricing is a combination of a yearly subscription and a per-unit royalty.  Production-level subscriptions start at $48,000.  Six-month Advanced R&D subscriptions are available for $24,000.

A fully-integrated system including Double Espresso, an appliance-type server, and a six-month Advanced R&D subscription is priced at $29,950. 

For additional pricing details please contact: sales@ipfabrics.com 

PPL for IXP23XX and pre-release Double Espresso units will be available in June, 2005. 

About IP Fabrics

IP Fabrics, founded in 2002 and located in Beaverton, Oregon, empowers a new era of networked systems by breaking down the software barriers to using network processor silicon.  The company is venture-capital financed via Ignition Partners, Intel Capital, Frazier Technology Ventures, and Northwest Venture Associates.  IP Fabrics is a member of the Network Processing Forum, Intel Communications Alliance, and RadiSys Alliance Program.

Press Contact: For more information, please contact Kevin Graves, IP Fabrics’ Chief Technology Officer, phone: 503-444-2411, or email kevin.graves@ipfabrics.com.

All rights reserved.  All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

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