Intel told the Intel Developer Forum here Wednesday (Sept. 1) that its new Level One IXP1200 programmable network processor embeds six 166-MHz RISC cores in the StrongARM.

The chip is designed for use in high-end switches, routers, and other products, said Robert Pepper, vice president of Intel's Network Communications Group and general manager of the company's Level One Communications subsidiary. Intel acquired Level One Communications (Sacramento, Calif.), a LAN/WAN chip specialist, earlier this year for $2.2 billion.

Level One will sell the IXP1200, though it did not develop the product. Intel itself has been designing the IXP1200 for some time. The StrongARM architecture was originally developed by Digital Equipment Corp. Two years ago, Intel acquired Digital's semiconductor operations, including the StrongARM architecture.

Later this week, Level One will introduce some components that it has developed to support the IXP1200 network processor, including a family of switching chips, formatting engines, and physical-layer ICs.