LSI's next-gen traffic management for carrier-class Ethernet applications

BANGALORE, INDIA: LSI Corp. today announced Ethernet Functional Programming Interface (FPI) Release 3.0, its next-generation, traffic management software for carrier-class Ethernet transport.

Carrier-class Ethernet enables rapid, low-cost deployment of the new technologies needed to meet growing demand for network services such as Enterprise Metro Ethernet and wireless broadband. LSI Ethernet FPI 3.0 advances the state-of-the-art with a new suite of scalable features and functions developed expressly for carrier-class Ethernet networks, including wireless backhaul management tools for service classification, reliability and quality of service.

The new FPI leverages a single interface across the full range of LSI APP multicore processors, enabling OEMs to utilize a single application across a broad system portfolio, reducing up-front R&D investment. The LSI APP platform is comprised of a multicore general-purpose processor and specialized programmable cores which provide packet processing, traffic management and security functions.

“The shift in network infrastructure to carrier-grade Ethernet has caused service providers to demand a new, more sophisticated set of network management tools,” said Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group. “The latest Ethernet FPI from LSI provides the OAM acceleration and advanced traffic management capabilities needed by OEMs to deliver next-generation wireless backhaul products.”

LSI Ethernet FPI 3.0 offers a complete set of OAM (operations, administration and maintenance) and CFM (connectivity fault management) functions, and contains a comprehensive, programmable toolkit that enables wireless service providers to provision guaranteed service levels, improve network reliability and significantly reduce operating costs.

Performance monitoring, link detection and network diagnostics are accelerated on the LSI communications processor. Because the bulk of OAM processing is offloaded from the host, system performance is increased and overall costs are also reduced.

“Operators are looking to attract customers with premium services at lower costs, so the adoption of carrier-class Ethernet is increasing at a rapid rate,” said Steve Vandris, communications processor product line director, Network Components Division, LSI. “LSI Ethernet FPI 3.0 enables operators to seamlessly introduce new services while substantially reducing the costs of deployment and ongoing network management.”

Ethernet FPI 3.0 provides support for Internet protocol security (IPsec) encryption, decryption and public key acceleration. Because true and pseudo random number generators are generated by the security engine embedded in the LSI communications processor, security processing occurs without intervention from the host.

An in-service upgrade facility allows the software to be upgraded with minimal impact on traffic flow, and other standard features include link aggregation, L2/3/L4 forwarding and tunneling, VLAN, and policy and priority remapping.

The new FPI takes full advantage of the asymmetrical multicore architecture announced by LSI at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, thus is designed to be easily ported to future generations of LSI multicore devices.

The software supports provider backbone bridging and transport applications, along with ITU-T G.8031 and G.8032 compliant automatic Ethernet protection switching. In addition, the FPI is compliant with MEF industry standards 6.1, 10.1 and 14, and IEEE® 802.1ag, IEEE 802.3ah and ITU-T Y.1731. LSI has demonstrated IEEE 1588v2 protocol stack integration on its APP3300 platform.