September 16, 2009 | Joint effort combines Aricent EPC frameworks and Cavium’s OCTEON-II Multi-core MIPS64 Processor family yielding highly-scalable, optimized solutions for LTE Equipment Manufacturers

Aricent™, a global innovation, technology and services company focused exclusively on communications, today announced a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Packet Core (EPC) development collaboration with Cavium Networks (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, wireless, storage and video applications. Through this collaboration, the companies will offer pre-optimized, performance-enhanced and highly-scalable EPC Serving Gateway (SGW), PDN Gateway (PGW) and Mobility Management Entity (MME) ready-to-use software frameworks for Cavium's OCTEON™ Multi-core MIPS64® processor family. This joint effort creates significant technology synergies, offering LTE equipment manufacturers a high-performance, high-capacity solution for their EPC platforms, while simultaneously reducing time to market, risk and cost.

Aricent’s LTE EPC software framework is based upon the company’s mature and widely deployed DIAMETER and GTP product stacks. The frameworks are complete, pre-integrated control plane software modules suitable for LTE Macro/Micro EPC nodes, supporting essential SGW, PGW and MME capabilities. Aricent’s frameworks integrate the complete control plane (signaling) functionality of the EPC node into a seamless package, accelerating and simplifying development of highly scalable, carrier-class EPC solutions. Aricent’s LTE EPC framework will be available and pre-optimized on the current Cavium OCTEON Plus Processor family and the upcoming OCTEON II Processor family. To learn more about Aricent’s LTE technology, please go to http://info.aricent.com/lte1.html.  

“Aricent has a successful track record providing mobile communications technology and services to the world’s leading infrastructure manufacturers,” said YJ Kim, senior director, networking and communications division at Cavium Networks. “Combining Aricent’s LTE expertise and software technology with OCTEON Multi-core MIPS64 processors will provide our mutual customers with an optimized, robust and reliable solution for EPC applications.  Together, Aricent and Cavium will reduce OEM development time and engineering cost for all Macro and Mini EPC node types. Building upon our existing eNodeB solution, we now offer a complete range of LTE network elements for our joint customers.”

The OCTEON Processor Family is the industry’s broadest Multi-core MIPS64 based Processor Family with over 30 different integrated processors with application performance ranging from 1Gbps to 40+Gbps. The OCTEON Processor Family consists of processors with 1 to 32 cores on a single chip with integrated multiple GEs, 10GEs, sRIO, PCI-express or PCI-X networking interfaces with industry-leading hardware acceleration for packet processing, quality of service, TCP, IPsec, KASUMI, SNOW 3G, ROHC, compression / decompression and deep packet inspection.

“Cavium Networks’ OCTEON Processor Family has won numerous designs at tier-1 3.5G and LTE infrastructure vendors. Our collaboration with Cavium reflects our continued emphasis on alignment with technology leaders in the LTE space,” said Rakesh Vij, assistant vice president at Aricent. “In addition to our device, eNodeB, IP backhaul and access software, Aricent has created a complete integrated framework for LTE EPC nodes. Cavium’s semiconductor expertise combined with our software frameworks simplifies development complexity for LTE infrastructure customers.”

Aricent and Cavium will be showcasing their respective LTE solutions at 4G World in Chicago. September 16-17, 2009. Aricent will be exhibiting in booth # 811 and Cavium at Booth # 833.

Aricent is a trusted Cavium development partner and a proud member of Cavium’s Partnership to Accelerate Customer End-solutions (PACE) program. For more information regarding Cavium’s extensive network of world class partners please visit http://www.caviumnetworks.com/Ecosystem_Partners.php

Keywords & tags – EPC, Evolved Packet Core, SGW, PGW, MME, Packet Data Network Gateway, Serving Gateway, LTE, LTE Frameworks, Cavium, OCTEON Processor, OCTEON II, OCTEON CN5860, CN5650, CN63XX, PACE, eGTP, GTPv2, LTE Diameter, LTE GTP, MME NAS, LTE Reference Designs

About Aricent

Aricent is a global innovation, technology and services company focused exclusively on communications. Aricent combines the leading innovation capabilities of frog design with unparalleled domain expertise in communications as a strategic supplier to the world's foremost infrastructure, application and service providers. The company’s investors include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office and Flextronics International Ltd. For more information, visit http://www.aricent.com

About Cavium Networks

Cavium Networks is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in networking, wireless, storage and video applications. Cavium Networks offers a broad portfolio of integrated, software compatible processors ranging in performance from 10 Mbps to 40 Gbps that enable secure, intelligent functionality in enterprise, data-center, broadband/consumer and access & service provider equipment. Cavium Networks processors are supported by ecosystem partners that provide operating systems, tool support, reference designs and other services. Cavium Networks principal offices are in Mountain View, CA with design team locations in California, Massachusetts, India and Taiwan. For more information, please visit: http://www.caviumnetworks.com