ASICs are a complicated technology that are very different than CPUs. They are also the foundation of many tech devices we use each day. But sometimes figuring them out is as simple as solving a Rubik’s Cube.
Barefoot Networks and the Burden of Design
I saw Barefoot Networks at Networking Field Day last week. And the primary takeaway I got was how hard it is to design a standard network switch, and ASICs in general. What I never realized was the latency involved in this process, which is kind of funny for networking equipment. They laid out the problem as enterprise customers go to the network equipment companies and ask for a feature. If it’s a big customer or enough people ask for it, the equipment folks need to go to their software team to see how they are going to implement this, then go to their ASIC team to have this designed into their hardware. After all this time (often several years), the equipment maker then produces the switch. This equipment is now many years delayed from when that feature was needed, which is now locked into the hardware, and enters a completely different networking landscape. Barefoot Networks totally rethinks this idea.
Programmable ASICs Will Change Infrastructure Investments
James Green of JDGreen.io comments: With any technology, whether it’s consumer technology or enterprise IT, it’s only a matter of time from the purchase before the technology is outdated. Most IT departments are extremely good by now with understanding the refresh cycle and how hardware depreciates over time. I learned of some technology at Cisco Live Europe this […]