Abstract
Designing cost-effective network processors (NP) is one of the most challenging tasks of current computer architecture problems. A network processor encompasses everything from task-specific processors, such as classification and encryption engines to more general-purpose packet or communications processors. This chapter introduces some of the central architecture themes that cut across a number of current NP designs. It is noted that the general issue remains that both the design space and the application space are very large and are continuously changing due to the emerging hardware technology, protocol standards, and driving applications. The chapter also discusses a set of research papers devoted to questions related to analyzing, simulating, and designing network processors. In addition, it presents industry analyst's perspective of the NP field and commercial network processors. Furthermore, the chapter introduces some of the design challenges and corresponding architectural approaches currently used in NP research and development.
Published Version
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