Silicon Valley has been buzzing for some time about the benefits of shifting networking jobs to software running on standard computer hardware. But engineers at BroadcomBRCM -0.11% plan to provide new evidence that special-purpose silicon still plays an important role.

The Irvine, Calif., company is one of the biggest companies bucking the trend of adopting the ubiquitous x86 design from IntelINTC +0.19% and Advanced Micro DevicesAMD +0.24%–long used in standard servers–for heavy-duty networking jobs. Broadcom on Tuesday is disclosing plans for what it calls a “server-class” microprocessor based on a design licensed from ARM HoldingsARM.LN -3.30%.

Broadcom’s announcement stems from its $3.7 billion acquisition of NetLogic Microsystems in 2011. It says the chip will be able to crunch 64 bits of data at a time–a much-discussed enhancement coming to ARM-based chips–and is designed to handle an array of specialized network tasks that require extra horsepower.

For example, some networking boxes now routinely carry out “packet inspection,” which requires networking hardware to examine each piece of data flowing through the system for potential security problems.

Broadcom, which doesn’t expect the chip to be in volume production until 2015, is planning to use a next-generation manufacturing technology that can create circuitry rated at 16 nanometers–a substantial advance in miniaturization that can cram more transistors on each chip.

The company is not saying how many of the tiny switching elements the new chip will have. But the company says it will have three times the performance of the five billion transistor chip it is now delivering based on 28-nanometer circuitry.

“This one is bigger and badder than that one,” says Ron Jankov, who was NetLogic’s CEO and is now a senior vice president at Broadcom.

Though targeted at carriers and their networking needs initially, Jankov does not rule out more computer-like applications of the chip in the future–a possibility that other companies have discussed with plans for ARM-based server chips to challenge Intel’s Xeon. “If we wanted to enter that market it would not be that difficult for us,” he says.

Broadcom plans to provide details about the new chip at the Linley Tech Processor Conference on Wednesday.

By: DocMemory
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