In 2001 I led a project to develop a network security platform that could process packets at a rate of 100 million bits per second combined with an unburdened parts cost of under US$200.
To achieve this sort of throughput, a high-performance RISC processor of greater than 200MIPS would be needed. In addition, an encryption co-processor would also be a requirement.
Use of a PCI bus would be the logical choice as it would satisfy both the need for speed and maintenance of low overall cost through the use of commodity-priced ethernet controller chips from the desktop PC market.
The Intel StrongARM processor was a strong candidate, but it did not have a PCI interface. The solution came in the form of a PCI bridge chip specifically made for the StrongARM processor- the ITE8152 which included a USB host interface.
The final design included the following components:
- Intel SA1110 StrongARM CPU
- 32, 64, or 128MB of SDRAM using Micron or Elpida parts
- 8 or 16MB of Flash using Intel StrataFlash or ST Micro parts
- 128KB Boot flash using an Atmel part
- ITE 8152 PCI bridge with USB host controller
- (3) RealTek 8139C PCI Ethernet controllers
- Safenet 1140 PCI Encryption processor