Network Processor Design

As the demand for digital communication networks has increased, so have the challenges in network component design. To meet ever-escalating performance, flexibility, and economy requirements, the networking industry has opted to build products around network processors. These new chips range from task-specific processors, such as classification and encryption engines, to more general-purpose packet or communications processors. Programmable yet application-specific, their designs are tailored to efficiently implement communications applications such as routing, protocol analysis, voice and data convergence, firewalls, VPNs, and QoS. Network processor design is an emerging field with issues and opportunities both numerous and formidable. To help meet this challenge, the editors of this volume created the first Workshop on Network Processors, a forum for scientists and engineers from academia and industry to discuss their latest research in the architecture, design, programming, and use of these devices. In addition to including the results of the Workshop in this volume, the editors also present specially commissioned material from practicing designers, who discuss their companies' latest network processors. Network Processor Design: Issues and Practices is an essential reference on network processors for graduate students, researchers, and practicing designers.* Includes contributions from major academic and industrial research labs including Aachen University of Technology; Cisco Systems; Infineon Technologies; Intel Corp.; North Carolina State University; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; University of California, Berkeley; University of Dortmund; University of Washington; and Washington University. * Examines the latest network processors from Agere Systems, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Sierra Inc., and TranSwitch.

Mark A. Franklin received his B.A., B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. in EE from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is currently at Washington University in St. Louis where he has a joint appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and holds the Urbauer Chair in Engineering. He founded and is Director of the Computer and Communications Research Center and until recently was the Director of the Undergraduate Program in Computer Engineering. Dr. Franklin is engaged in research, teaching and consulting in the areas of computer and communications architectures, ASIC and embedded processor design, parallel and distributed systems, and systems performance evaluation. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the ACM, and has been an organizer and reviewer for numerous professional conferences including the HPCA8 Workshop on Network Processors (2002). He has been Chair of the IEEE TCCA (Technical Committee on Computer Architecture), and Vice-Chairman of the ACM SIGARCH (Special Interest Group on Computer Architecture).