The WinPath3 W series processors are optimized to handle on a single device the real-time IP packet processing demands of both the radio baseband and network interface protocols, allowing system designers to significantly reduce cost and power consumption. The company’s new heterogeneous multi-core design, with up to twelve multi-threaded data path cores, an integrated 20 Gigabit/second hardware packet classifier, and dual multi-threaded MIPS 34K CPU cores, can reduce power consumption for data path protocol processing by up to 70% over conventional multi-core processing solutions.
Such protocols, including the complex LTE Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Robust Header Compression (RoHC) GTP tunneling, Ethernet OAM, and security and encryption standards such as Snow3G, Kasumi, SHA, AES and IPSec, are extremely time-sensitive yet must be able to scale to the much higher data bandwidths associated with HSPA+ and LTE networks.
With five times the peak performance of the current WinPath processors, the WinPath3 W series are the first in the industry to provide hardware acceleration and software support for all GSM, HSPA+, WiMAX and LTE data path protocols, while also providing integrated support for legacy interfaces such as TDM and UTOPIA. The new processors also provide up to 16 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 72 Fast Ethernet interfaces, PCI Express, and multiple lanes of Serial RapidIO (SRIO) for baseband connectivity. This flexibility, combined with the company’s wide-range of royalty-free production software, means that equipment manufacturers can quickly develop a range of software-compatible solutions targeting femtocells, picocells and macro base stations while also supporting legacy software for existing 2G and 3G networks.
Network operators and equipment manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to introduce enhanced wireless data services while minimizing capital and operating expenses, said Caroline Gabriel, owner and editor of Rethink Research. The flexibility and efficiency of Wintegra’s approach aligns very well with the emerging needs of the HSPA+ and LTE community.
The company has also developed a broad and deep ecosystem of partners that share the company’s vision of providing integrated hardware and software reference platforms to accelerate product development cycles. In addition to Wintegra and picoChip’s existing and WiMAX and LTE reference platform, Wintegra and Xilinx have announced a new Targeted Design Platform for LTE that utilizes the company processors and software, and Wintegra and NetLogic have announced a new reference platform for Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) that will bring unprecedented DPI capability to base stations and cell site aggregation equipment.
Our success in 3G and WiMAX markets with our current WinPath processors and software has given us an insider’s view of the evolution towards LTE, according to Eran Kirzner, vice president of engineering for wireless systems at Wintegra. We have leveraged this experience to optimize the WinPath3 silicon and software for the migration to all-IP wireless broadband networks.
The WinPath3 processors will be available in the third quarter of 2009, with LTE and HSPA+ software already available on the existing WinPath2 processors.
