Tuesday, July 19th 2011
Intel to Acquire Fulcrum Microsystems
Intel Corporation today announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fulcrum Microsystems Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company that designs Ethernet switch silicon for data center network providers.
"Intel is transforming from a leading server technology company to a comprehensive data center provider that offers computing, storage and networking building blocks," said Kirk Skaugen, Intel vice president and general manager, Data Center Group. "Fulcrum Microsystems' switch silicon, already recognized for high performance and low latency, complements Intel's leading processors and Ethernet controllers, and will deliver our customers new levels of performance and energy efficiency while improving their economics of cloud service delivery."
10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) networks are one of the fastest-growing market segments in the data center today. As demand for data continues to increase, there is a growing need for high-performance, low-latency network switches to support evolving cloud architectures and the growth of converged networks in the enterprise. Fulcrum Microsystems designs integrated, standards-based 10GbE and 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) switch silicon that have low latency and workload balancing capabilities while helping provide superior network speeds.
Cloud computing is driving the convergence of server, storage and network technologies and solutions based around Intel Xeon processor solutions. IP Data Center customers need faster and more flexible networking solutions. The acquisition will fulfill an important component in Intel's strategy to deliver comprehensive data center building blocks, from server processors and technologies to storage and networking.
"Customers in Web, financial services, technical and high-performance computing market segments appreciate the performance advantages Arista offers with our Extensible Operating System combined with switches based on Fulcrum Microsystems silicon," said Andy Bechtolsheim, founder, chief development officer and chairman of Arista Networks. "Fulcrum Microsystems has architecture capabilities ideal for low-latency applications, and we are excited about the future possibilities of this technology as Fulcrum is acquired by Intel, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer."
Founded in 1999, Fulcrum Microsystems is based in Calabasas, Calif. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The agreement is subject to the approval of Fulcrum Microsystems shareholders, regulatory approval and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
"Intel is transforming from a leading server technology company to a comprehensive data center provider that offers computing, storage and networking building blocks," said Kirk Skaugen, Intel vice president and general manager, Data Center Group. "Fulcrum Microsystems' switch silicon, already recognized for high performance and low latency, complements Intel's leading processors and Ethernet controllers, and will deliver our customers new levels of performance and energy efficiency while improving their economics of cloud service delivery."
10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) networks are one of the fastest-growing market segments in the data center today. As demand for data continues to increase, there is a growing need for high-performance, low-latency network switches to support evolving cloud architectures and the growth of converged networks in the enterprise. Fulcrum Microsystems designs integrated, standards-based 10GbE and 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) switch silicon that have low latency and workload balancing capabilities while helping provide superior network speeds.
Cloud computing is driving the convergence of server, storage and network technologies and solutions based around Intel Xeon processor solutions. IP Data Center customers need faster and more flexible networking solutions. The acquisition will fulfill an important component in Intel's strategy to deliver comprehensive data center building blocks, from server processors and technologies to storage and networking.
"Customers in Web, financial services, technical and high-performance computing market segments appreciate the performance advantages Arista offers with our Extensible Operating System combined with switches based on Fulcrum Microsystems silicon," said Andy Bechtolsheim, founder, chief development officer and chairman of Arista Networks. "Fulcrum Microsystems has architecture capabilities ideal for low-latency applications, and we are excited about the future possibilities of this technology as Fulcrum is acquired by Intel, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer."
Founded in 1999, Fulcrum Microsystems is based in Calabasas, Calif. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The agreement is subject to the approval of Fulcrum Microsystems shareholders, regulatory approval and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
17 Comments on Intel to Acquire Fulcrum Microsystems
In fact, I spoke to him. Here's his reaction.
Not pleased. Not pleased at all.
So Intel now has a MiG-29?
I sure hope AMD gets a YF-22 soon! :laugh:
Maybe a future solution for Sandy-E pci-e 4x sata port issues ?
+ you can expand the networking side to catch up with China's current standards and that would be able to handle the normal 10G and once ready 40G data for a country like China.
This should give Intel a fair chance at trying to compete if they can catch up. :o
PS> USA we think we will have proper 3.5G for mobile phones eventually, this above is default (2008) 10G mobile data and 40G mobile data, you do the math.
Imagine 1.5bilion or is it already 3billion Chinese downloading conservatively at 4G speeds on their 8billion (last count) mobile phones on such a network = how much data ??
Intel can make some money there.
Off Topic:
YF-22 maybe not the best choice, maybe read this post about mig and eurofighter.
asian-defence.blogspot.com/2011/06/pakistani-f-16s-shoot-down-raf.html
Funny how this was not on the news here.
LOL someone joked about the Fulcrums - Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers"
Keeps costs down, maintenance down, and security is easier to control.
@WarraWarra: What does China have to do with anything? China is way behind the "West" in everything except population count.
If this technolgy is aimed at LightPeak/Thunderbolt, the earliest we'll see it is in Ivybridge. Most likely, it won't be until the iteration after that. It takes at least 2 years to deploy technology like that and we are likely within a year from the launch of IvyBridge. I think Intel knows better than try to rush something like that in. More likely, I think Intel sees SATA as not advancing quick enough to keep pace with SSD development so they need a generational leap forward. They could get that generational leap from Fulcrum.