Broadcom Touts 'Cloud-Scale Networking'Broadcom Touts 'Cloud-Scale Networking'

LAS VEGAS -- Interop -- Broadcom today introduced a new communications processor designed for networking appliances. The XLP500 Series is intended for use in applications including security appliances, as a control plane processor in high-end SDN configurations, and also as an NFV processor.

High performance is important in SDN as the controller pushes commands out to remote boxes, which have to take action. "The quicker the boxes can implement the command, the faster your network can make changes," Nick Ilyadis, VP & CTO, Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM)'s infrastructure and networking group, told Light Reading. The processor is also designed to provide the workload flexibility for NFV applications. (See Defining SDN & NFV.)

The processor, mid-range in Broadcom's XLPII multi-core communications processor line-up, has 32 NXCPUs and 80Gbits/s performance, and Broadcom claims it has four times the per-core performance of competing processors. It's available now in sampling to customers, and will likely be available in carrier networking hardware in nine months to a year.

Broadcom also plans to use Interop as a pulpit to pound its theme of "cloud-scale networking," using open, white box switches to deploy highly scalable and flexible networks.

Cloud-scale networking is composed of three layers: The physical layer includes switches, endpoints, and processors. The second layer is network services, providing scalability, low latency, efficient fabrics, and automation. And the third layer is the platform, using SDN and NFV to provide virtualization and multi-tenancy. Broadcom supports NFV through its OpenNFV platform.

Broadcom will also demonstrate a cloud configurator tool, allowing service providers to build a network, configure racks of servers, and simulate the effects of changes to the network topology.

— Mitch Wagner, , West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].

Want to learn more about SDN and the transport network? Check out the agenda for Light Reading's

Big Telecom Event (BTE), which will take place on June 17 and 18 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. The event combines the educational power of interactive conference sessions devised and hosted by Heavy Reading's experienced industry analysts with multi-vendor interoperability and proof-of-concept networking and application showcases. For more on the event, the topics, and the stellar service provider speaker lineup, see Telecommunication Luminaries to Discuss the Hottest Industry Trends at Light Reading's Big Telecom Event in June.