http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA424895.html
(text below)
>
>> The whole network processor thing was a bit of a bust; there
>> weren't/aren't enough "big" buyers in the market to justify
>> the development effort (and it turned out that the "opportunity"
>> for such buyers was mostly hype.)  And it didn't help that the
>> buyers that DID exist held their "requirements" to be pretty
>> proprietary and would rather make their own...
>>
>> BillW
>
>Does that mean CISCO and other gear makers make their own
>ASICs to power up those communication gears?
>
>Regards,
>Xiaofan
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IBM, Cisco Build 40-Gbps ASIC Marvel for IP Networks

Online staff -- Electronic News, 6/9/2004

In an impressive display of engineering talent, IBM and Cisco Systems today=
 revealed collaborative details of the design and manufacture of a complex,=
 programmable custom chip, created to power the Cisco Carrier Routing Syste=
m (Cisco CRS-1) for moving data, voice and video across Internet Protocol (=
IP) networks.

The Cisco Silicon Packet Processor (SPP) is a 40Gbits/sec. ASIC with 38 mil=
lion gates, about 185 million transistors and 188 high-performance programm=
able 32-bit RISC processors that execute at a rate of 47 billion instructio=
ns per second (BIPS).

The chip measures 18.3mm square was designed along with nine other ASICs by=
 Cisco and fabricated by IBM. During the past three years, IBM and Cisco en=
gineers partnered in the development of 10 custom chips in total, which IBM=
 is producing in its 300mm manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, N.Y., a=
nd 200mm facility in Burlington, Vt.

The Cisco ASICs can be packaged in different configurations in multiple car=
d configurations, stacked like pizza trays. Depending upon the configuratio=
n, a single routing system may contain thousands of IBM custom chips, the c=
ompanies said.

=E2=80=9CThis project is a tremendous example of the ongoing commitment to =
innovation and teamwork shared by IBM and Cisco," said Tom Reeves, VP of se=
miconductor products and solutions for IBM=E2=80=99s systems and technology=
 group, in a statement. "The reason we've achieved the number one ranking i=
n ASIC and maintained it for five years is simple -- we can help customers =
develop advanced, customized silicon solutions in less time, allowing them =
to get their products to market faster.=E2=80=9D =




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