Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (www.idt.com), whose customers include Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Fujitsu, IBM, Motorola, NEC Corporation, Nokia and Siemens, announced on September 13 the launch of the fourth generation of its network search engine, which accelerates Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and supports 10 gigabit per second applications. The product will enable up to 1 billion searches per second. And while this type of search capability has existed in the enterprise IT arena, its migration into the networking infrastructure is new.
IPv6 has been on the horizon for more than a decade, and it may take years before it actually becomes ubiquitous. IPv6 fixes a number of problems that have occured in the 20-year-old IPv4, such as a shortage of available addresses and auto-configuration of networks. Initially, the two protocols are expected to exist side by side, but most networking experts say the shift will occur rapidly once IPv6 is introduced.
Scott Sarnikowski, Vice President of IDT and Co-General Manager of the IP Co-Processor Division, said that what IDT is doing is accelerating packet processing for networking, wireless and storage, and that IDT is going after a much higher level of integration. IDT expects the next version of its search engine to be incorporated into chips in the first half of next year.
