Ultra-low power 32 kHz RC oscillator designed in GlobalFoundries 22FDX
Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Memoir Systems
By Hilton Romanski, Senior Vice President, Head of Business Development, Cisco
September 18, 2014 -- Today, I am pleased to announce Cisco’s intent to acquire privately held Memoir Systems, a company that develops semiconductor memory intellectual property (IP) and tools that enable ASIC vendors to build programmable network switches with increasing speeds. This acquisition will enable the proliferation of affordable, fast memory for existing Cisco switch ASICs and will help advance Cisco’s ASIC innovations necessary to meet next-generation IT requirements.
Currently in the data center switching market, denser infrastructure and data-intensive workloads are driving demand for higher port density (feeds) and greater bitrates (speeds). At the same time, the accelerating growth of scale-out (non-virtualized) Big Data applications like Hadoop are driving increasing East-West data traffic – furthering the need for greater data center network density. Unfortunately, the physical memory in typical ASIC switch chips cannot cope with the design requirements for these more intense needs and as a result, can become the bottleneck that limits the density and performance of future data center switches.
To help solve the ASIC memory issue, Memoir currently licenses soft-logic IP, which speeds up memory access by up to 10 times. It also reduces the overall footprint this memory takes up in typical switch ASICs. As a result, this technology allows the development of switch and router ASICs with speeds, feeds, and costs typically not possible with traditional physical memory design techniques. This differentiation is critically important as port densities and port speeds move from 10G to 40/100G.
The acquisition of Memoir Systems is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2015. The Memoir team will report into Cisco’s Insieme Business Unit, under Senior Vice President, Mario Mazzola.
I look forward to seeing Memoir’s technology used across Cisco’s future ASIC projects. Memoir’s technology and strong team will allow Cisco to continue to innovate at the chip level and advance our ASIC and overall networking strategies.
|
Related News
- Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Silicon Photonics Leader, Luxtera
- Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Leaba Semiconductor
- Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Ubiquisys
- Accenture Announces Intent to Acquire XtremeEDA to Expand Silicon Design Capabilities in Canada and US
- Cisco Intends to Acquire Acacia Communications
Breaking News
- Arteris Joins Intel Foundry Accelerator Ecosystem Alliance Program to Support Advanced Semiconductor Designs
- SkyeChip Joins Intel Foundry Accelerator IP Alliance
- Siemens and Intel Foundry advance their collaboration to enable cutting-edge integrated circuits and advanced packaging solutions for 2D and 3D IC
- Cadence Expands Design IP Portfolio Optimized for Intel 18A and Intel 18A-P Technologies, Advancing AI, HPC and Mobility Applications
- Synopsys and Intel Foundry Propel Angstrom-Scale Chip Designs on Intel 18A and Intel 18A-P Technologies
Most Popular
- QuickLogic Delivers eFPGA Hard IP for Intel 18A Based Test Chip
- Siemens collaborates with TSMC to drive further innovation in semiconductor design and integration
- Aion Silicon Joins Intel Foundry Accelerator Design Services Alliance to Deliver Next-Generation Custom SoCs at Scale
- TSMC Unveils Next-Generation A14 Process at North America Technology Symposium
- BOS Semiconductors to Partner with Intel to Accelerate Automotive AI Innovation
![]() |
E-mail This Article | ![]() |
![]() |
Printer-Friendly Page |