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Re:

Fast-Chip’s $11 Million Round and Its OC-192 PolicyEdge Processor

Fast-Chip’s $11 million June 2000 round was followed by a separately reported $27 million financing in 2001. PolicyEdge was its OC-192 network-classification coprocessor.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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Fast-Chip’s $11 million investment refers to a June 2000 financing round led by Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, according to a period funding table. It was separate from a $27 million round reported in May 2001. The capital supported a company developing PolicyEdge, a specialized processor that helped communications equipment handle packet classification and network policies at OC-192 speeds.

What was Fast-Chip’s $11 million investment?

A 2000 fabless-funding table published by Silicom Ventures lists Fast-Chip, Inc., in California as receiving $11 million in June 2000, with Morgan Stanley Venture Partners as lead investor. The amount is documented in that period table rather than a surviving Fast-Chip investor announcement, so it is best understood as the table’s reported figure, not as a round independently confirmed here by a company release. Silicom Ventures’ fabless-funding table

How did the $11 million round relate to later funding?

In May 2001, EE Times reported a separate $27 million financing for Fast-Chip. Berkeley International Capital led it, alongside Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners and Intel Capital. EE Times said the new financing brought Fast-Chip’s total investment received to $39 million. The $11 million and $27 million figures therefore describe distinct rounds, not competing totals. EE Times, May 2001

What was the OC-192 coprocessor?

PolicyEdge was Fast-Chip’s network-classification and services processor, announced in September 2001 for 10-Gbit/s routers, switches and communications systems. It was an engineering component for network-equipment makers, not a consumer computer processor or a standalone networking appliance. Its role was to take packet-classification and policy work off a network processor or ASIC, helping equipment process traffic and apply advanced services at line rate. Fast-Chip product announcement, September 2001

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Where it fit in a network system

PolicyEdge sat in the fast data path between a framer and a traffic manager. It supported PL3 interfaces for OC-48 and SPI-4 for OC-192. On-chip Boundary Addressable Memory checked policy databases in a single cycle, avoiding the need for external content-addressable memory (CAM) devices for that function. The processor also handled packet editing and statistics collection, functions useful for usage-based billing, class-of-service partitioning and denial-of-service policing. UMC and Fast-Chip production announcement, January 2002

Who it was designed for

The intended customers were communications-equipment OEMs and network operators building IP routers, multiservice switches, MPLS label edge and switch routers, multiservice provisioning platforms, fast firewalls, VPNs, metro-service equipment and broadband-access systems. In that setting, PolicyEdge was a specialized building block for adding classification and service-management functions to larger systems. The Linley Group product coverage

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When did PolicyEdge reach production?

UMC and Fast-Chip announced production in January 2002, describing PolicyEdge as the industry’s first OC-192 services processor. UMC said it was made using its 0.18-micron process and supported classification, editing and statistics collection at 1–10 Gbit/s. The announcement also listed a 100 MHz version at $450 each in quantities of 5,000; that is a 2002 OEM-volume price, not a current price or a retail offer. UMC and Fast-Chip production announcement, January 2002

EE Times reported sample availability in OC-48 and OC-192 versions, in an 840-TBGA package, with fabrication in 0.18-micron CMOS. These are period product specifications; the archival announcements do not establish present-day availability. EE Times product announcement, September 2001

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