Cisco's $100M Processor Leaves Much To The Imagination
The new Cisco QuantumFlow Processor includes 40 cores on a single chip and can perform up to 160 simultaneous processes, according to a Cisco statement.
The processor, the manifestation of more than five years and $100 million in research and development, was designed by a team of more than 100 Cisco engineers, many of whom developed the Cisco Silicon Packet Processor for the vendor's carrier-class CRS-1 (Carrier Router System), the company said.
The chip also has 800 million transistors, compared to the 185 million transistors on the CRS-1's processor, the company said.
Cisco declined Monday to provide further details on the new processor or what products it will appear in, but clearly it has some high-power gear in mind. That said, an elaborate online invitation to watch Cisco unveil "a breakthrough innovation that will improve the network for everyone" on March 4 has led to speculation in the Blogosphere that the new processor forms the technology heart of a forthcoming line of high-end Cisco routers.
The invitation itself is actually pretty funny, featuring interviews with "uber-users" such as Santa Claus and Cupid, talking about how the new technologies they use to do their jobs are putting strain on their networks.
Take the Easter Bunny (senior vice president of egghunt services) for example: "My entire supply chain runs over the network, right? Eggs, jelly beans, dyes, baskets, synthetic grass, global mapping that gets me from door to door "
Cisco goes on to promise that "On March 4, life on the network will be better for everyone." What role QuantumFlow will play in that better life remains to be seen.