Mountain View, California-based Protocol Engines Inc is perparing to turn the economics in the multi-protocol communications bridging and routing world on their ear with its PE-1000 Protocol Engine chip set, and has now commissioned Hewlett-Packard Co to fabricate the chip set on its 0.8-micron CMOS fab line, so it should be available in a few months. The three-chip PE-1000 set is designed to provide multiple real-time RISC engines plus specialised engines dedicated to communications and multi-protocol processing, using available Media Access Controllers for a variety of network media. For host network adaptors, the set will provide full bandwidth at FDDI speeds and when used for internetworking, the scalable architecture will support full-band packet forwarding between four FDDI networks using either bridging or routing. The set can also be used for any combination of communications media including multiple Ethernets, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Fibre Channel, and HIPPI. The RISC processors can be used for parallel real-time processing and custom applications, the firm says. No word on price or ship date.
