Network appliance uses latest Intel processor

A Portwell Technology product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Aug 6, 2008

SoC integration provides direct access to memory, storage, computation and I/O process yet offers lower power consumption, making it ideal for thermally constrained environments.

New from Portwell Technology, the CATO-3000 is a 1U network appliance platform based on the Intel EP80579 integrated processor with Intel QuickAssist technology.

Available now, Portwell's CATO-3000 is the ideal platform solution for network security such as firewall, VPN, IDS/IPS, anti-spam, anti-virus and UTM; network management such as router, RAS gateways, QoS, wireless and streaming; network and voice management such as VoIP and SIP; and network storage such as NAS and NVR.

Other potential applications are home network control unit, storage server gateways for all home Internet access devices, and communications with single hardware server management.

The EP80579 design includes an Intel architecture complex based on the Intel Pentium M processor, integrated memory controller hub, integrated I/O controller hub and flexible, integrated I/O on a single chip, which facilitates packet transmission compared with multi-chip solutions.

The SoC integration provides direct access to memory, storage, computation and I/O process yet offers lower power consumption, making it ideal for thermally constrained environments.

Furthermore, the Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor has three built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC ports for compact, single device designs and significant cost effectiveness.

The CATO-3000 is scalable from 600MHz, 1.066GHz and 1.2GHz.

It includes security features such as IPSec, SSL etc, and TDM for supporting IP telephony.

The CATO-3000, Portwell's first Intel EP80579-based product line, is a 1U rack-mount system with multiple Ethernet port options, PCI-E slot, LCD module, Ethernet bypass segment and various memory and storage options for flexible customisation.

Custom logo imprint on the product unit is also available.

Luke Chen, President and CTO of Caswell, comments "With Portwell's CATO-3000, we can easily migrate our Linux kernel with Intel's driver support for our current NAS product line expansion".

"We are also planning to utilise the security features to build our NVR for our next generation product line-up".

"We certainly see the benefits of its packet handling and data compression performance, as well as its hardware-based security options".

"After all, Intel has really rocked the network application and appliance world with these SoCs".

"The integrated accelerators in the Intel EP80579 integrated processor support Intel QuickAssist technology for bulk encryption, hashing and public/private key generation, and data path and TDM acceleration", said Rose Schooler General Manager, Performance Products Division, Intel.

"These new SoCs will help customers develop a wide range of applications from security appliances to VoIP gateways".

With its CATO-3000 launch, Portwell not only provides customers with a hardware platform, but also demonstrates its dedication to support by building an ecosystem software team to further provide a custom driver, applications and OS support.

CATO-3000 is only one of the stops on Portwell's Intel EP80579-based roadmap.

The company has planned a series of product line-ups for different applications and fields.

"Our product and service commitment is as straightforward as 1-2-3", says Polo Huang, Portwell's VP of Sales.

"We provides our customers with one unified security platform, to their maximum satisfaction, with three-P offerings: plug, perform and protect".