During the
dot-com/
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000, the proliferation of many dot-com
start-up companies
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...
created a secondary bubble in the
telecommunications
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
/
computer networking
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...
infrastructure and telecommunications
service provider
A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization t ...
markets.
Venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
and
high tech
High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the state of the art, cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the ...
companies rushed to build next generation infrastructure equipment for the expected explosion of internet traffic. As part of that investment fever,
network processor
A network processor is an integrated circuit which has a feature set specifically targeted at the Computer networking, networking application domain.
Network processors are typically software programmable devices and would have generic characteri ...
s were seen as a method of dealing with the desire for more network services and the ever-increasing data-rates of communication networks.
It has been estimated that dozens of start-up companies were created in the race to build the processors that would be a component of the next generation telecommunications equipment. Once the internet investment bubble burst, the telecom network upgrade cycle was deferred for years (perhaps for a decade). As a result, the majority of these new companies went bankrupt.
As of 2007, the only companies that are shipping network processors in sizeable volumes are
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...
,
Marvell,
Freescale
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...
,
Cavium Networks
Cavium, Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company based in San Jose, California, specializing in ARM-based and MIPS-based network, video and security processors and SoCs. The company was co-founded in 2000 by Syed B. Ali and M. Raghib Hussain, ...
and
AMCC.
OC-768
Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate of ...
/40Gb routing
*
ClearSpeed
ClearSpeed Technology Ltd was a semiconductor company, formed in 2002 to develop enhanced SIMD processors for use in high-performance computing and embedded systems. Based in Bristol, UK, the company has been selling its processors since 2005. ...
left network processor market, reverted to supercomputing applications
*
Propulsion Networks defunct
*
BOPS left network processor market, reverted to DSP applications
OC-192
Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate o ...
/10Gb routing
*
Terago defunct
*
Clearwater Networks originally named Xstream Logic, defunct
*
Silicon Access defunct
*
Solidum Systems acquired by
Integrated Device Technology
Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), was an American semiconductor company headquartered in San Jose, California. The company designed, manufactured, and marketed low-power, high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor products for the adva ...
*
Lexra
Lexra (1997–2003) was a semiconductor intellectual property core company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. Lexra developed and licensed semiconductor intellectual property cores that implemented the MIPS I architecture, except for the four unali ...
defunct
*
Fast-Chip defunct
*
Cognigine Corp. defunct
*
Internet Machines morphed into
IMC Semiconductors, a
PCI-Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed standard used to connect hardware components inside computers. It is designed to replace older expansion bus standards such as PCI, PC ...
chip vendor
*
Acorn Networks defunct
*
XaQti acquired by
Vitesse Semiconductor, product line discontinued
OC-48
Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate of ...
/2.5Gb routing
*
IP Semiconductors defunct
*
Entridia defunct
*
Stargate Solutions defunct
Gigabit Ethernet
In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use in ...
routing
*
Sibyte
Daniel "Dan" William Dobberpuhl (March 25, 1945 – October 26, 2019) was an electrical engineer in the United States who led several teams of microprocessor designers.
Background
Dobberpuhl was born in Streator, Illinois on March 25, 1945 ...
acquired by
Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...
, product line discontinued
*
PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.
On January 15, 2016 ...
product line discontinued
OC-12 routing
*
C-port acquired by
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
(now
Freescale
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...
), product line discontinued
*
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
PowerNP product line discontinued
*
Sitera acquired by Vitesse, product line discontinued
Access products
*
Netargy defunct
*
Ishoni Networks defunct
*
HyWire defunct
VOIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
products
*
Silicon Spice acquired by
Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...
, product line discontinued
* Malleable Technologies acquired by
PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.
On January 15, 2016 ...
, product line discontinued
Traffic managers
*
Extreme Packet Devices acquired by
PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.
On January 15, 2016 ...
, product line discontinued
*
Azanda Network Devices acquired by ''Cortina'', product line being sold as CS53xx family
*
Teradiant defunct
*
Orologic acquired by Vitesse, product line discontinued
*
Maker Communications acquired by
Conexant
Conexant Systems, Inc. was an American-based software developer and fabless semiconductor company that developed technology for voice and audio processing, imaging and modems. The company began as a division of Rockwell International, before bei ...
, product line discontinued
Packet classifiers
*
SwitchOn acquired by
PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.
On January 15, 2016 ...
, product line discontinued
*
FastChip defunct
Switch fabrics
*
Abrizio
Abrizio was a fabless semiconductor company which made switching fabric chip sets (integrated circuits for computer network switches). Their chip set, the TT1, was used by several large system development companies as the core switch fabric in ...
acquired by
PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.
On January 15, 2016 ...
, product line discontinued
*
Stargen left networking market for computer server market
Security products
*
Chrysalis-ITS defunct
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Defunct Network Processor Companies
Defunct network processor companies
Network processor companies