SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE:CY) today announced two new network search engine (NSE) architectures that expand its portfolio of search-system solutions to include both ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM)- and algorithmic-based products. The Ayama(TM) 20000 NSE, targeted at the NPU market, is an extension of Cypress's high-performance Ayama 10000 family of TCAM-based NSEs. The Sahasra(TM) 50000 family of algorithmic-based NSEs is optimized for very large forwarding tables such as those found in routers and L2/L3 switches; it represents a major leap forward in terms of search-engine capacity, performance and power consumption vs. existing solutions. Cypress is the only company to offer both types of search solutions.

As packet-search systems become more complex, designers require a variety of solutions to meet diverse search requirements. Policy lookups, such as access control list (ACL) and quality of service (QoS), require high-performance, exceptional search flexibility and ease of use -- all of which require the use of TCAMs. On the other hand, forwarding lookups, including virtual router forwarding (VRF) and virtual private network (VPN) applications, typically require greater than one million table entries, and therefore are cost and power sensitive; these must be optimized for exact match or longest-prefix forwarding, making them ideal for an algorithmic search solution.

"Cypress's vision is to provide a complete solution to the packet search problem," said Christopher Norris, vice president of Cypress's Data Communications Division. "Instead of responding to the increasing complexity of search systems with a single approach, Cypress offers a variety of technologies to address specific search requirements. Our Ayama products are the highest-performance TCAM-based products on the market today. Now with our Sahasra family, we have taken an algorithmic approach to ensure that we offer NSEs that combine the lowest cost per bit with the ease of use of TCAMs. Sahasra makes possible routers and L2/L3 switches that are beyond the reach of current TCAM technology."

Ayama 20000 NSE

Ayama 20000 NSE is a high-performance TCAM-based network search engine that seamlessly connects to the Network Processing Forum (NPF) approved Look-Aside 1 (LA-1) interface-based commercial network processors (NPUs) and ASICs. The Ayama 20000 NSE has several key features such as automatic address generation for associated data, interrupt and polling-based result interface, support for aging, and patent-pending dynamic power management. In addition, the Ayama 20000 NSE offers a heterogeneous cascading interface for optimized search subsystems that provides improved performance and headroom for NPU-based systems. Single and dual LA-1 ported versions of the NSE will be available. Ayama 20000 NSE will be available in 9M and 18M densities; at 266-million searches per second (MSPS) is the highest-performance LA-1 based NSE in the market.

Sahasra 50000 NSE

Sahasra 50000 NSE is a family of algorithmic search engines optimized for large forwarding tables in applications such as virtual router forwarding (VRF) and virtual private network (VPNs) that need greater than one million table entries. Using patented techniques that are highly scalable, the Sahasra family achieves four times the capacity of the largest TCAM-based search engines available on the market today. In addition, the Sahasra NSE family can achieve 250 MSPS while consuming a fraction of the power of current TCAM solutions. The Sahasra solution includes complete table management software under the Cynapse(TM) Software Platform to provide a turn-key hardware and software solution. Sahasra search subsystems can interface with NPUs via the cascade interface of an Ayama 20000 NSE, making it possible to easily scale existing designs while minimizing cost and power consumption.

Pricing and Availability

The Ayama 20000 NSE is expected to sample in Q104. Sahasra 50000 NSE is expected to sample in Q204. Verilog, cycle-accurate C and IBIS models are available for both Ayama 20000 NSE and Sahasra NSE under non-disclosure. Contact your Cypress sales representative for details.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp.