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Analysis of new developments in microprocessors and other semiconductor products
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A Guide to Processors for Network Security Tenth Edition Published January 2012 Authors: Tom R. Halfhill and Joseph Byrne Corporate License: $5,995 Pages: 160 |
An In-Depth Look at Processors for Network-Security Applications
The network-security market remains as dynamic as the threats that are driving its growth. Security-equipment vendors must scale the performance of their VPN/firewall products while adding application-level features. To satisfy enterprise customers, security-software vendors are turning to hardware-accelerated appliances for intrusion prevention (IDS/IPS), antivirus, antispam, and content filtering. The convergence of these hardware and software products is creating Unified Threat Management (UTM) platforms, which have the most demanding processing requirements.
For anything above SOHO-class equipment, standard processors cannot deliver the required performance in a cost-effective and power-efficient manner. As a result, security-equipment and -software vendors have turned to a new breed of processors that integrate one or more CPUs, memory and I/O controllers, and special-purpose engines for security functions. For mid-range designs, these integrated security processors often replace a standard processor. For the most demanding designs, these integrated processors can also offload data-plane processing, working alongside a standard x86 processor.
Get Up to Speed Quickly
This report covers processors that integrate hardware acceleration for security functions, including high-throughput encryption, content inspection, compression, and/or packet processing. Such integrated processors include Cavium's Octeon II family, NetLogic's XLP family, Freescale’s QorIQ P3 and P4 families, LSI’s Axxia, Netronome’s NFP, and Tilera’s Tile-Gx. We also cover separate content-inspection accelerators where offered by these processor vendors: Cavium Nitrox DPI, LSI Tarari, NetLogic NETL7. Finally, we cover Intel’s newest embedded Xeon processors, which include specialized instructions for encryption and other security-related functions. With one report, you can quickly compare the key vendors and their products and accelerate your selection process.
This report analyzes each vendor and each product, probing their strengths and weaknesses and presenting key details in a consistent, easy to compare fashion. We focus on network-security applications, examining hardware-acceleration features, performance, and system design. Because selecting a processor architecture has long-term implications, we also look at the vendors’ roadmap where possible.
Make Informed Decisions
As the leading vendor of technology analysis for networking silicon, The Linley Group has the expertise to deliver a comprehensive look at these technologies. Authors Joseph Byrne and Tom Halfhill use their broad experience to deliver the technical and strategic information you need to make informed business decisions. And in case you are not familiar with all of the concepts involved in this combination of security technology and networking, the report includes several introductory chapters that define and describe terms such as Diffie-Hellman, SHA-2, and FIPS 140-2.
This report is written for
- Engineers who are designing network-security equipment and need to select a processor
- Marketing and engineering staff at companies that sell networking chips that connect to security processors
- Technology professionals who wish an introduction to network-security processors
- Financial analysts who desire a detailed analysis and comparison of security-processor companies and their chances of success
- Government researchers who need up to date information on commercial network-security technology
Don’t wait! Get your copy now to track the latest developments in this fast-paced market!
What's New in this Edition
Updates to the Ninth Edition of “A Guide to Processors for Network Security”. Formerly “A Guide to Security Processors and Accelerators”
Reflecting the integration trend in security processing, we have structured this report to focus on processors that integrate hardware acceleration for security functions. Where a processor vendor also offers its content-inspection technology as a standalone accelerator, we cover those accelerator chips as well. We have dropped coverage of standalone encryption accelerators, which have been replaced for most new designs by processors with integrated encryption engines.
Changes in this edition include:
- New coverage of Intel’s Xeon E3 (Sandy Bridge) platforms
- Coverage of Cavium’s new Octeon II CN66xx multicore processors
- Coverage of NetLogic’s new XLP II multicore processors
- Coverage of Freescale’s new QorIQ P5020 processor
- Coverage of vendors’ intelligent network interface cards based on their multicore processors
- Market forecast through 2015 for security processors and accelerators
- 2010 market-size and vendor-share data for security accelerators
| Figure 1-1. Firewalls and the DMZ |
| Figure 2-1. Header and trailer format for ESP tunnel mode |
| Figure 3-1. Basic processor design |
| Figure 3-2. Simple superscalar processor design |
| Figure 3-3. Interleaved tasks on a multithreaded CPU |
| Figure 4-1. Block diagram of processor with network-security accelerators |
| Figure 5-1. Security-processor and security-accelerator forecast through 2015 |
| Figure 6-1. Cavium Octeon II CN6880 block diagram |
| Figure 6-2. Block diagram of security appliance based on Cavium Octeon II CN68xx |
| Figure 6-3. Photo of Cavium CN6645 intelligent network adapter |
| Figure 7-1. Freescale QorIQ P4080 block diagram |
| Figure 7-2. Photo of Interface Masters’ Niagara 710 dual-port 10GbE NIC |
| Figure 8-1. Block diagram of Intel Xeon E3-1275 security appliance |
| Figure 9-1. LSI ACP3448 block diagram |
| Figure 9-2. Block diagram of security appliance based on LSI ACP3448 |
| Figure 9-3. Photo of LSI Intelligent Services Adapter |
| Figure 10-1. NetLogic XLP832 block diagram |
| Figure 10-2. Block diagram of security appliance based on NetLogic XLP316S processor |
| Figure 11-1. Netronome NFP-3240 block diagram |
| Figure 11-2. Netronome NFE-3240 accelerator card |
| Figure 12-1. Tilera Tile-Gx block diagram |
| Table 2-1. OSI seven-layer mode |
| Table 5-1. Security-accelerator market share by revenu |
| Table 6-1. Key parameters for selected Cavium Octeon II processor |
| Table 6-2. Key parameters for Cavium Nitrox DPI II device |
| Table 7-1. Key parameters for Freescale QorIQ P3041 and P4080 processor |
| Table 7-2. Key parameters for Freescale QorIQ P5010 and P5020 processor |
| Table 7-3. Key parameters for Freescale QorIQ T-series processor |
| Table 8-1. Key parameters for Intel Sandy Bridge Xeon E3-1275 processor |
| Table 9-1. Key parameters for LSI ACP3400 device |
| Table 9-2. Key parameters for LSI T10xx and T2xxx processor |
| Table 10-1. Key parameters for selected NetLogic XLP processor |
| Table 10-2. Key parameters for selected NetLogic XLP II processor |
| Table 10-3. Key parameters for selected NetLogic NETL7 device |
| Table 11-1. Key parameters for Netronome NFP-32xx processor |
| Table 12-1. Key parameters for Tilera Tile-Gx8000 processor |
| Table 13-1. Comparison of selected enterprise-class security processor |
| Table 13-2. Comparison of selected midrange data-plane processor |
| Table 13-3. Comparison of selected high-throughput data-plane processor |