Network Processor: November 2007 Archives
What was being whispered about has now become reality. Intel are dropping the development of future 28XX network processors and have licensed the technology to Netronome a deep packet inspection startup company. My PhD research focussed on the original NP the IXP 1200. This quirky little chip was a great academic research tool as you had to code all aspects of its execution.
The new breed of 28XX NPs have streamlined some of the development issues. I am not really surprised to see that Netronome plan to focus on builidng in layers 4 - 7 packet inspection. Several papers presented each year at NP conferences tended to intersect with this area. I hope the people I know in Intel who worked on these products are reassigned to useful roles as they are great bunch of talented engineers.
