The company is Terago, and if you haven't heard of it, you are not alone. Except for an uninformative announcement last May, Terago had been silent about its first product, the ProTera NPU, until recently disclosing the chip is sampling.

Not since Rosie Ruiz broke the tape at the Boston Marathon has a winner come out of nowhere like this. Unlike Ruiz, Terago finished the race fairly, delivering a programmable 10-Gbit/s device.

Although other vendors are developing similar chips, the Silicon Valley startup has a key advantage in its innovative programming model. Instead of writing C code, the programmer uses a graphical interface to select fields and rules for classifying packets and modifying their headers.

This tool then creates the code for the ProTera chip. Simplifying the programming task cuts development time and software errors. The downside is that the chip is not as flexible as some NPUs.

Terago aims ProTera at core routers and edge-aggregation equipment. The chip is flexible to meet the needs of these systems while delivering the 10-Gbit/s wire speed needed at the core.

A month ago, AMCC had already taped out its 10-Gbit/s NPU, the nP7510, and expected to win this race by sampling early this quarter. EZchip, an Israeli startup, taped out in January and expects to sample in March. Agere, Cognigine and Silicon Access also have announced plans to sample 10-Gbit NPUs in the first quarter.

Terago's announcement, while impressive, does not nullify the efforts of these other vendors. AMCC is still likely to have the first complete combination of a network processor and traffic manager (TM) at 10 Gbits/s; the company is already sampling its nPX5700 TM, whereas Terago expects to sample its ProTera TM in the second quarter.

EZchip's device could be the first full-duplex 10-Gbit/s NPU, effectively twice the throughput of the ProTera chip. Cognigine's could be the first full-duplex 10-Gbit/s NPU-TM in a single chip.

The good news for OEMs is that, within a few months, they will be able to choose from several new NPUs that are far more powerful than last year's products. Terago may end up as one of the crowd, but for now, it's alone in the winner's circle.

Linley Gwennap is Founder and Principal Analyst of the Linley Group (www.linleygroup.com).