- EZchip (EZCH +6.4%) declares its 200-gig NP-5 network processor "is now in full production," and is being "delivered in quantity to EZchip's customers for deployment in Tier-1 carrier and data-center networks."
- The NP-5 offers twice the throughput of the prior-gen NP-4, and carries an ASP that's 50% higher. EZchip asserts the extra horsepower will enable line cards with "multiple 40-Gigabit and 100-Gigabit ports."
- The company mentioned on its Q3 CC it's seeing "a lot of activity with ZTE" related to the NP-5, and that top customer Cisco plans to migrate its existing NP-4-based (edge router) platforms to the NP-5. However, EZchip would only say Cisco, which unveiled its nPower X1 processor last year, will "possibly" use the NP-5 in new platforms.
- EZchip's NPS processor line - it can handle deeper packet analysis, and is aimed at both carrier Ethernet and data center hardware - is expected to begin sampling next year.