NextHop Scales Routing Software

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- NextHop(TM) Technologies Inc., the definitive source for network routing software solutions, today unveiled version 9.3 of its GateD(TM) routing software. NextHop enhanced GateD, already the most widely used vendor-neutral routing software in the world, to solve the scalability issues facing large enterprises and service providers. Now, network equipment manufacturers building equipment such as routers and core, edge and aggregation boxes can solve their customers' ever-expanding scalability requirements imposed on them by the explosive growth on the Internet. "Scalability in routing is a significant issue because of the growth of the Internet, the advent of VPNs, and increased interconnectivity as more and more enterprises become multihomed," said Christin J. Flynn, director, Communications Network Infrastructure, the Yankee Group. "Providing a more scalable routing solution for network equipment manufacturers is a critical requirement for next-generation networks." In a separate release: NextHop(TM) Technologies Inc., the definitive source for network routing software solutions, today announced an agreement with IBM that enables equipment manufacturers to simplify and accelerate the development of networking equipment. IBM and NextHop have teamed to port NextHop's GateD(TM) software -- the recognized de facto standard for vendor-neutral routing software -- to the IBM PowerNP NP4GS3 network processor for use in network equipment manufacturers' routers and networking equipment. "This relationship enables us to provide our clients and the industry with a reliable, scalable, tested software solution that matches with our high-performance networking processor," said Dr. Armando Garcia, vice president of network processing, IBM Microelectronics. "The initiative allows IBM's customers to focus on their specific areas of value-added capability and get products to market faster with lower development and testing costs." As an example of the benefits that developers will experience, IBM and NextHop were able to port the GateD code to the IBM NP4GS3 development environment in less than one week. This rapid development speaks both of the robust portability layer of the GateD code and of the well-architected Linux development environment on the NP4GS3. NextHop Technologies Inc. IBM Corp.