The NetFPGA is the low-cost reconfigurable hardware platform optimized for high-speed networking. The NetFPGA includes the all fo the logic resources, memory, and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces necessary to build a complete switch, router, and/or security device. Because the entire datapath is implemented in hardware, the system can support back-to-back packets at full Gigabit line rates and has a processing latency measured in only a few clock cycles.

• Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Logic
  • Xilinx Virtex-II Pro 50
  • 53,136 logic cells
  • 4,176 Kbit block RAM
  • up to 738 Kbit distributed RAM
  • 2 x PowerPC cores
  • Fully programmable by the user
• Gigabit Ethernet networking ports
  • Connector block on left of PCB interfaces to 4 external RJ45 plugs
  • Interfaces with standard Cat5E or Cat6 copper network cables using Broadcom PHY
  • Wire-speed processing on all ports at all time using FPGA logic
    • 1 Gbits * 2 (bi-directional) * 4 (ports) = 8 Gbps throughput
• Static Random Access Memory (SRAM)
  • Suitable for storing forwarding table data
  • Zero-bus turnaround (ZBT), synchronous with the logic
  • Two parallel banks of 18 MBit (2.25 MByte) ZBT memories
  • Total capacity: 4.5 MBytes
  • Cypress: CY7C1370D-167AXC
• Double-Date Rate Random Access Memory (DDR2 DRAM)
  • 400 MHz Asynchronous clock
  • Suitable for packet buffering
  • 25.6 Gbps peak memory throughput
  • Total capacity: 64 MBytes
  • Micron: MT47H16M16BG-5E
• Multi-gigabit I/O
  • Two SATA-style connectors to Multi-Gigabit I/O (MGIO) on right-side of PCB
  • Allows multiple NetFPGAs within a PC to be chained together
• Standard PCI Form Factor
  • Standard PCI card
  • Can be used in a PCI-X slot
  • Enables fast reconfiguration of the FPGA over PCI bus without using JTAG cable
  • Provides CPU access to memory-mapped registers and memory on the NetFPGA hardware
• Hardware Debugging ports
  • JTAG cable connector can be used to run Xilinx ChipScope Pro
• Flexible, Open-source code
  • BSD-style open-source reference router available from the NetFPGA.org website. Download it, use it, keep it, give back to the community if you choose.