MMC Networks Announces the First 20 Mpps Network Processor With Wire-Speed Layer 3 Processing for Building Switches and Routers.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1997-- MMC Networks Inc. today introduced the AnyFlow(TM) 5000 family of network processors, chip sets that provide network equipment vendors with the industry's fastest "engine" to power switches and routers with 20 million packets-per-second (Mpps) performance and up to 20/40 Gbps throughput.

The AnyFlow 5000 family provides wire-speed Layer 3 switching and routing with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) and packet/cell internetworking. Also announced today was the first member of this family, the AnyFlow 5500, a network processor that is scalable to 128 ports of full-duplex Fast Ethernet (FE) or ATM OC-3, 16 ports of Gigabit Ethernet (GE) or 32 ports of OC-12.

"The AnyFlow family provides real value for networking equipment vendors," said David Passmore, President of Decisys, a market research company in Sterling, Va. "Networking companies wanting to offer high-speed switching and routing now have three choices: they can go to the time and trouble of building their own chips from scratch, they can buy one of the many gigabit start-ups or they can build their next-generation equipment with MMC Networks' network processors."

"The AnyFlow 5500 will be available, in volume, for $35 per Fast Ethernet port and $220 per Gigabit Ethernet port," said John Kennedy, MMC Networks Director of Marketing. "Coupled with superior time-to-market, the AnyFlow network processor provides a clear price/performance advantage compared to the cost of developing a switching core from scratch at a start-up."

The AnyFlow 5500, at 20 Mpps, is the fastest network processor available for switches and routers. It provides a 20 Gbps non- blocking full-duplex rate as defined by ATM switch conventions and a 40 Gbps non-blocking forwarding rate as defined by FE switch and router conventions. The AnyFlow 5500's forwarding rate, combined with its wire-speed Layer 3 and QoS features, provides network equipment vendors with a significant performance advantage over the newest ASIC-based Gigabit Ethernet switches.

Advanced Features at Wire Speed

The AnyFlow 5000 network processor family's instruction set is optimized for networking applications. This enables network equipment vendors to provide their customers with advanced features such as: -0-

-- Wire-speed Layer 3 switching and routing

-- Internetworking among LANs and WANs

-- Packet filtering, address translation, and tunneling for

security

-- Class of Service (CoS) and Guaranteed QoS

-- Advanced network management

-- Up to 20 Mpps and up to 20/40 Gbps throughput.

"The major challenge facing today's network equipment vendors is not only raw throughput, but delivering multi-gigabit performance for advanced services, such as priority services, at wire speed," Kennedy said. "Services often have a negative impact on the performance of a switch or router. The unique design of the AnyFlow family provides maximum performance even when services are added."

"MMC Network's AnyFlow 5500 technology will allow switches to offer ATM-class quality of service to a whole new set of customers building Ethernet backbones," stated David Benham, ATM Product Line Manager, Cisco Systems. "Also, the wire-speed Layer 3 switching performance of AnyFlow 5500 technology and Tag Switching are important building blocks for meeting today's demanding requirements of Internet service provider backbones with Cisco's award-winning LightStream ATM switches."

Software Programmable for Configuration Flexibility

"The ability to provide a single, software-programmable platform for multiple products is one of the primary benefits of using a network processor, rather than an ASIC or RISC processor, as the heart of a switch or router," Kennedy added. "Because the AnyFlow 5000 network processor is software programmable, the same chip set can be used to address the different needs of the rapidly segmenting networking marketplace."

The AnyFlow 5000 network processor family enables network equipment vendors to quickly develop differentiated solutions for the rapidly segmenting marketplaces, in both the enterprise and the service provider markets. For enterprise networks, the AnyFlow 5000 family is targeted at applications where multi-gigabit performance and advanced services are required, including: -0-

-- Campus backbone

-- Power workgroup

-- Wiring closet 

-- Data centers

-- Web server farms

-- WAN backbone

-- Dedicated distribution

-- Remote access servers

For service providers, the AnyFlow 5000 family is ideal for building feature-rich switches and routers that can be used to provide services such as: -0-

-- Internet

-- Frame relay 

-- ATM

-- Voice/telephony

-- Dial access

-- Dedicated access

-- xDSL, cable

-- Sonet/SDH

Network Processors -- Optimized for Networking Applications

A network processor is a high-performance, open-architecture, software-programmable processor optimized for networking applications. A switch or router based on a network processor can add services and features at wire speed because of the way a network processor is designed, with an instruction set optimized for networking.

"The AnyFlow 5000 family validates the beginning of a new industry of programmable processors specifically designed for networking applications," stated Greg Sheppard, chief analyst, Dataquest. "Network processors add real value by combining switching and routing functions, address manipulation, processing and queuing functions into a highly integrated, software-programmable chip set."

The AnyFlow 5500 Network Processor

The new AnyFlow 5500 network processor is the first member of the AnyFlow 5000 family. The AnyFlow 5500 is scalable up to 40 Gbps throughput for any combination of Fast/Gigabit Ethernet and OC-3/OC-12 ATM ports. Maximum configurations are: 128 FE or OC-3 ports, 32 OC-12 ATM ports, and 16 GE ports. The AnyFlow 5500 scales linearly in modules of 2.5 Gbps, which provides the cost-effective QoS and multi-service support required in WAN aggregation environments such as dial and xDSL access platforms. The AnyFlow 5500 consists of: -0-

-- nP5500 -- the core processor which provides a modular non-

blocking fabric up to 20 million pps and up to 20/40 Gbps

bandwidth with integrated Per-Flow Queuing(TM) technology.

-- Direct Replication Engine -- facilitates IP multicast at wire

speed.

-- Virtual SAR -- performs internetworking of packets and cells

without expensive SAR devices.

-- Per-Flow Scheduler co-processor -- provides guaranteed quality

of service for TCP/IP.

-- Programmable BitStream Processor -- provides wire-speed Layer

3 address lookup, address translation and packet processing

The modular design of the AnyFlow 5500 network processor enables a wide range of products from cost-effective non-blocking wiring closet switches with 24 FE ports and 2 GE ports to high-performance 20 Mpps, 20/40 Gbps backbone switches and routers. Volume pricing ranges from $35 per FE port to $220 per GE port to $250 per OC-12 ATM port. The company expects that the AnyFlow 5500 will be sampling in the fourth quarter of 1997 and shipping in quantity in 1998. Samples of the Programmable BitStream Processor will be available in the first quarter of 1998.

MMC Networks is a leading provider of network processors -- high-performance, open-architecture, software-programmable processors optimized for networking applications. The company's network processors form the core silicon "engines" of LAN and WAN switches and routers and are designed to allow network equipment vendors to rapidly develop high-performance, feature-rich, cost-effective products supporting a broad range of networking functions.

For more information on MMC Networks' products, please call 408/731-1600 or visit http://www.mmcnet.com .

CONTACT: MMC Networks Inc.

Paula E. Jones, 408/731-1605

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