Broadcom Intros Low Cost 500 Mbps Security MPU

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(08/26/02, 04:10:19 AM EDT)

Irvine, Ca. -- Broadcom Corp. has developed a new 500 megabit per second IP security processor that incorporates the most recent Government-approved 256 AES encryption algorithm, but is low cost enough to be incorporated into a variety of price-sensitive net-centric embedded and small footprint iappliances.

The Broadcom BCM5823 CryptoNetX IPsec CPU has been designed to bring the security capabilities usually associated with only high end systems down to a wide range of embedded embedded firewalls, VPN appliances, VPN-enabled routers and access devices used for securing transactions and data transfers over the Internet.

The BCM5823 supports both 200 Mbps and 500 Mbps and can scale up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps), allowing systems to be developed and deployed with a common set of hardware and software building blocks, significantly reducing overall system cost.

The security processor is available in two configurations -- 500 Mbps throughput supporting 400 Internet Key Exchange (IKE) sessions per second, and 200 Mbps supporting 200 IKE sessions per second.

The chip supports IPsec bulk payload processing for all of the AES modes, including 128-, 192- and 256-bit AES-CBC and AES-CTR key length support. It also accelerates ARCFOUR at 800 Mbps and supports 3DES and DES symmetric algorithms, MD-5, SHA-1 hash algorithms and random number generation through its 64-bit 33/66 MHz PCI 2.2 interface.

The BCM5823 requires no external components or memory and has a power consumption of only 1.3 Watts at 500 Mbps or 1.1 Watts at 200 Mbps, making it ideal for embedded networking systems and small footprint iappliance designs with limited board space and strict power requirements.

The chip comes with an extensive software development kit appropriate to small foot print devices which is a compatible subset of that available on other Broadcom security chips. It includes a reference design and a cryptographic software library, supporting BSD, Linux and VxWorks operating systems.

Both versions are available now in sample quantities with production quantities are expected by the end of September. The chip comes in a in a 256- pin PBGA package.

For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.