Network processor architectures

Network processor architectures make CPU architectures look staid and boring. Network processor designers from different companies have made vastly different decisions about I/O interfaces, memory interfaces, and programming models, not to mention system architecture and what flavors of hardware acceleration to include.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a generic network processor. It does not represent a specific network processor, but includes traits common to most. These traits are:

• Multiple RISC cores
• Dedicated hardware for common networking operations
• High-speed memory interface(s)
• High-speed I/O interfaces
• Interface to general purpose CPU