October 19, 2004 Concord, MA --Xelerated says they have doubled the throughput of the Xelerator X11 from 10-Gbit/sec full-duplex to 20-Gbit/sec full-duplex and embedded 24 Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet (FE/GE) MACs. These changes drop the cost per port by a factor of two, enabling the X11 to bring the benefits of programmability to even more cost-sensitive Ethernet applications the company asserts.

Building on the X10q-e, the X11 utilizes an Ethernet-optimized version of Xelerated's patented dataflow pipeline. Xelerated says this pipeline is significantly more compact than the SONET-optimized pipeline of the X10q. This change allows 24 FE/GE MACs to be added, reducing the solution cost by a factor of two. The pipeline can be configured to support either 20-Gbit/sec full-duplex Ethernet or 10-Gbit/sec full-duplex SONET applications. With built-in algorithmic search engines and direct attachment of DRAM, SRAM, and TCAM, the X11 can support the optimum memory configuration for a wide range of applications.

"Due to its extremely high level of integration and flexible memory interfaces, the X11 can meet and in some cases beat the solutions cost for high-function Ethernet ASICs ¿ all while providing the benefits of programmability," said Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group. "This differentiates it from all other NPUs."

The X11 will supersede the X10q-e for 5-, 10-, and 20-Gbit/sec Ethernet applications as well as 5- and 10-Gbit/sec SONET applications, while the X10q-m and X10q-w will continue to be used for 20-Gbit/sec SONET applications. The X11 features SERDES interfaces for direct attachment to FE/GE/10GE PHYs or to XAUI-based switch fabrics, and dual SPI-4.2 interfaces for connecting SONET framers or traffic managers. Each SPI4.2 interface supports up to 256 channels.

The Xelerator X11 network processor is priced at $395 for volumes of 10,000 and is scheduled to sample in Q1 2005.