Lara Technology Introduces World's Fastest User-Configurable CAM for High Performance Networking and Communications Systems.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1999--

First Production Networking IC Using 0.18 micron

Copper CMOS Process

Lara Technology today announced the first member of its Ternary Content-Addressable-Memory (CAM) family, the LTI7010, based on its proprietary SuperCAM(TM) architecture.

With a sustained throughput of 83 million searches per second, the device provides enabling solutions for large ISPs and Internet backbones where speed requirements range from OC48 to OC192. The LTI7010 is the first production networking IC to use 0.18 micron Copper CMOS process technology and empowers high-end network device manufacturers to design products that incorporate unprecedented levels of performance and search intelligence.

Lara's SuperCAM(TM) technology has already been designed into Gigabit and Terabit switches and routers. It is being used for high-performance Layer2, Layer 3, Layer 4 and Multi-Layer applications in VPN, QoS, CoS and policy management.

The LTI7010 is the first user-configurable silicon-based search engine capable of handling 34-bit, 68-bit, 136-bit or 272-bit wide search operations. It is a full ternary device providing one mask bit for every data bit. A single device can maintain a table of 16K entries of 68-bits each. Over 30 devices can be cascaded to create tables containing one million entries. There is no performance penalty for cascading. The LTI7010 also offers the unique capability for managing tables of different configurations within the same device, giving it the versatility to enable complex multi-layer switching operations. It facilitates Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR) Protocol providing Longest Prefix Matching at a sustained 83 million operations per second with wire speed learning, synchronous pipelined operation and a glueless interface to industry standard SRAMs. The LTI7010's proprietary power management scheme minimizes power to a mere 1.1 watts at 66 MHz.

According to Anand Desai, Director of Marketing at Lara Technology, "The LTI7010 was architected to satisfy customers requiring high performance, low power and the ability to handle multi-layer operations within the same device, helping to reduce system cost and improve overall performance and reliability."

Since the demands on network processors and bit-stream processors have outpaced silicon process technology, new ways are being adopted to supplement the capacity bottlenecks of these processors. The LTI7010 is ideally suited for extending their capacity. For example, by offering a table width of up to 272 bits, the widest in the industry, a broad range of searches are now possible within the same cycle. Policy, VPN, and source/destination classification do not need separate searches to identify each packet attribute, and can be done in a single cycle. Due to its ultra-large width, LTI7010 also offers seamless scalability to IPv6 architectures.

With the increase in demand for intelligence on the network, devices need more capacity for searching IP packets and ATM cells for filtering, routing, handling multiple protocols and security encryption. These additional demands for intelligence are rapidly changing the industry and have created a need for new and robust approaches. SuperCAM(TM) technology addresses this high-performance and high-capacity need, at a very desirable price point. It provides the hardware acceleration that Internet applications desperately need.

The LTI7010 is packaged in an industry-standard 27mm 272-pin PBGA and is available in 83 MHz and 66 MHz speed grades. It is being offered at less than $40 in 10K quantities. Samples are available now. Full production is scheduled for September 1999.

About Lara Technology, Inc.

Lara Technology is a leading supplier of systems solutions for the converging networking and telecommunications markets. For additional information please visit www.laratech.com.