Intel beefs up networking chip

Intel has increased the speed of its top-of-the-range IXP1200 processor in an effort to keep up with a huge increase in network traffic.

The chip giant said the latest version can process up to three million packets of data every second, giving network equipment vendors "headroom" to design advanced traffic shaping and quality of service.

The IXP1200 chip is designed for high-end multi-service switches and routers, and is part of Intel's Internet Exchange (IX) architecture - a framework for designing networking and telecoms equipment using reprogrammable silicon.

Tom Franz, general manger of Intel's network processor group, said: "This is a tool for building the next generation of networking and telecoms equipment."

Peter Crowcombe, an analyst at researcher Infonetics, said faster chip speeds are a response to a huge hike in network traffic. But he added that the core network processor is struggling to keep up as bandwidth rockets.

"System designers are already using the capacity of this chip" he said.

Intel has signed more than 25 network equipment manufacturers to the IXP1200, including Cisco and Newbridge Networks.

Franz said that because the chip is made of reprogrammable silicon, network equipment manufacturers could add features with software upgrades rather than with custom hardware.