LSI Sees Smarter Wireless Networks Coming

LSI Corp. is rolling out a new portfolio of asymmetric multicore silicon solutions and software for wireless applications. LSI says these next-generation processors will provide higher levels of intelligence, control and security for wireless networks.

The LSI asymmetric multicore architecture allows purpose-built processors to be combined with the IBM 476FP PowerPC core, which LSI helped design. 476FP PowerPC operates at clock speeds in excess of 1.6 GHz, and 2.5 Dhrystone MIPS (million instructions per second) per MHz. In addition, the architecture features LSI’s new Virtual Pipeline messaging-passing technology, which LSI says is a deterministic method that efficiently moves data between on-chip processors.

LSI is also leveraging Virtual Pipeline to support its new line of Axxia communication processors, which feature multiprocessor cores connected via the Virtual Pipeline technology. LSI’s overall networking portfolio consists of communication processors, media and baseband processors, echo cancellation software, voice and video codecs, multi-service processors and high-performance content inspection processors.

The asymmetric multicore architecture combines established LSI capabilities such as traffic management, QoS, voice and video transcoding, security processing and deep packet inspection. According to LSI, the new asymmetric multicore portfolio will enable solutions for any-to-any wireless communication and provide a path for realizing a single-chip base station.

Wireless networking is becoming the norm for distributed enterprises, as it allows remote users to carry enterprise access with them wherever they go. The type of advanced unified architecture LSI is developing should be a huge boon for distributed enterprises seeking an easy way to develop and integrate wireless access points.