Cisco builds custom silicon to power the "Internet for the Future"
0Reported today on TechSpot
For the full article visit: https://www.techspot.com/news/83231-cisco-builds-custom-silicon-power-internet-future.html
Cisco builds custom silicon to power the "Internet for the Future"
The scaling demands of the Internet are asking for specialized silicon to meet those needs
In context: The future of just about everything tech-related right now, or so it seems, revolves around designing custom semiconductor chips. From smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung, to cloud computing providers like Amazon and Google, stretching even to automakers like Tesla, there's been an enormous amount of effort among tech vendors recently to create their own specialized silicon parts. The most recent example comes from networking powerhouse Cisco.
Cisco unveiled a new silicon platform last week, called Silicon One, that they believe is necessary to power the next generation internet, as well as the infrastructure necessary to support 5G networks.
Based on current growth rates and predicted demand, the amount of data traffic that each of these elements will demand (as well as the obvious tie-overs between them), will completely overwhelm the existing networking infrastructure. Plus, the economics of trying to scale these efforts with existing devices paints an even bleaker future -hence the need to take a radically different approach to networking gear.
To be completely accurate, Cisco has been designing and building networking-specific chips for over two decades. What's different and significant about Silicon One is that, in addition to using it themselves, the company also plans to sell this chip to service providers and other potential partners who may want to build their own devices. That's quite a change from a company that was never seen as a silicon supplier.
The other unique thing about the Silicon One platform is the design a