C-Port Corporation Founded to Provide a Radical New Approach to Developing Network Products and Services
Veterans from leading networking, microprocessor and software companies come together to create a new product development process
with the C-Ware communications platform
C-Port Corporation, a privately held startup company based here, today unveiled plans to provide an architecture that enables networking vendors to radically improve how they develop and deploy network products and services. The company described a new network building block, called the C-Ware communications platform, that provides an open foundation on which networking vendors can build products and services in weeks or months rather than years.
Until now, networking vendors have been limited by the need to reinvent their ASIC-based (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) hardware and their software with each product generation. With the C-Ware communications platform, vendors start new projects at a much higher level in the development process, enabling them to concentrate their resources on delivering new features and services to their enterprise and service provider customers more quickly. C-Port expects the adoption of the C-Ware communications platform to spur innovation in the networking industry.
To accomplish this goal, C-Port has assembled a unique, experienced team of network system architects, custom microprocessor designers, and software tool developers. In November 1997, C-Port attracted funding from venture capital firms in both the Boston area and Silicon Valley. Benchmark Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Charles River Ventures have provided a total of $8 million in funding to date.
"The networking industry has made stunning advances in the last decade, from the evolution of the Internet to the deployment of corporate intranets. The irony is that while networking vendors have enabled their customers to do business in Internet time, they themselves have been hamstrung by using the same basic development processes they've been using for years," said Larry Walker, CEO, president and co-founder of C-Port. "C-Port's C-Ware platform offers a radical improvement to these processes by providing a fully programmable microprocessor and robust, standards-based software on which to base product development.
"The C-Ware approach takes a page from the hugely successful PC industry, which really took off once it settled on a common platform to which features and applications were added," continued Walker. "The benefits of the C-Ware platform to network end customers are clear- they get more of the innovative features they need to run their businesses, such as billing applications, security and policy enhancements. They get products sooner. And they get them in a high-speed platform that they can upgrade with software rather than a forklift."
C-Port's seasoned management team is led by co-founder Larry Walker, formerly vice president and general manager of Digital Equipment Corporation's Network Product Group, and previously with the Digital Semiconductor Group that built the industry leading Alpha chip. Co-founder and chief technical officer Dave Husak brings years of networking experience from 3Com(R) and Synernetics as architect of some of the industry's most successful switches, such as 3Com's CoreBuilder(R) line. Rounding out the core management team is Tom Brightman, co-founder and vice president, who founded Cyrix(R) and led the development of the MediaGX(TM) processor, which effectively created the sub-$1,000 PC market.
Vendors familiar with C-Port's plans are excited by the benefits of the C-Ware platform. "C-Port has incorporated microprocessor and networking expertise into a truly revolutionary package that will enable vendors to quickly adapt to the dynamic nature of the networking industry," said Siva Ananmalay, Director of Enterprise Product Development at Nortel Networks. "I am impressed with the technology C-Port is bringing to market, and they have the breadth and depth of expertise to succeed. C-Port's flexible architecture offers us new ways to develop products and improve our own ability to meet our customer's needs." The C-Ware Communications Platform
The C-Ware communications platform is conceptually a three-dimensional architecture that consists of state-of-the-art processor technology, industrial-strength software components and an advanced software development environment, all specially tailored to the needs of the communications industry.
At C-Ware's base is the Digital Communications Processor (DCP) family, a family of fully programmable, micro multi-processor systems optimized for communications applications. The DCP family represents the first full-custom microprocessors designed specifically for the networking industry. With its extensible architecture, the DCP family will enable vendors to upgrade seamlessly to new versions of microprocessors. Consistent with many semiconductor companies, C-Port is fab-less and has contracted production of the DCP family.
The second component of the C-Ware platform is a set of software interfaces called the Communications Programming Interfaces (CPI). The equivalent of system APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) in the software world, the C-Ware CPIs simplify software development and provide compatibility across generations of communications processors.
Leveraging these CPIs, the C-Ware platform also provides software modules that vendors can use in their products. C-Port is providing a set of these modules and third-party developers will also offer modules written to these CPIs. The Communications Component Software layer provides some common networking features such as IP packet forwarding and the ATM SAR function. The Communications Applications Solutions layer provides real-world networking applications such as an IP Packet over SONET switch or a Gigabit Ethernet Layer 3 switch.
The third critical component of the C-Ware platform is the Communications Development Environment. This environment consists of a comprehensive set of software tools and support services that enhance network vendors' productivity in the design, development, debugging, and performance tuning of communications software. It also includes a system simulator that provides a simulation of the total system, enabling vendors to model and develop software well before the hardware is finalized.
C-Port draws a clear distinction between the C-Ware communications platform and network processors and other recent incremental advances in network development. According to the company, network processors afford vendors some level of configurability, but still require them to start basically from scratch with every product. Because the C-Ware platform is fully programmable, it enables vendors to operate at a much higher level in the development process, to shrink their development cycles, and to concentrate their resources on innovative features.
C-Port Corporation is a privately held startup company focused on radically improving the networking industry's ability to develop, deploy and provision communications services for the 21st century. The company brings together seasoned veterans from leading companies such as 3Com (NASDAQ:COMS), AMD(TM) (NYSE:AMD), Cyrix(R)/National Semiconductor Corporation(R) (NYSE:NSM), Digital Equipment Corporation/Compaq (NYSE:CPQ), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) , and Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT). The company's C-Ware communications platform provides a solid, standards-based foundation on which networking vendors can build innovative products and services quickly and cost-effectively.
For more information on C-Port, visit our web site at www.cportcorp.com. Customers interested in additional information can contact Tony Rea, Regional Sales Director, at 978-974-9317, ext. 168, or email him at tony.rea@cportcorp.com.
Note to Editors: C-Port, the C-Port logo, C-Ware and DCP are trademarks of C-Port Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: C-Port Corporation
KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS
with Hyperlinks to your home page.
Linda Pugliano, 978/974-9317 ext. 182
linda.pugliano@cportcorp.com
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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