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Ethernity Networks targets next generation of data processing

Published: 04:00 04 Mar 2019 EST

FPGA
The FPGA market is estimated to be worth around US$9.8bn by 2023

• Specialises in products helping computer networks run efficiently
• Focuses on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology
• FPGA market estimated to be worth around US$9.8bn by 2023

What Ethernity does

Ethernity Networks Ltd (LON:ENET) is a technology group specialising in hardware and software designed to help computer networks run faster and more efficiently.

The company’s main focus is on the use of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, essentially a programmable system that helps to reduce pressure on computer processors and networks.

This type of technology is useful for computer systems that deal with large amounts of data going through them, such as video streaming networks and online gaming.

Ethernity says that by offloading computer functions such as networking and security to the FPGA, the actual CPU will be freed up to perform other tasks.

This usually helps improve computer performance as well as cutting power consumption.

The FPGA market is a growing segment in the exploding computing sector, with an estimated value of around US$9.8bn by 2023.

Inflexion points

• In October 2018, the company landed a substantial contract to supply its ENET switch and traffic manager hardware to a North American tier 1 telecommunications original equipment manufacturer (OEM), expected to bring in nearly US$500,000 in short-term revenue and an estimated US$2mln in future royalty streams over the next 30 to 36 months

• In January 2019, Ethernity completed the delivery of a new server product to a Korean OEM as part of an agreement announced in June 2018

Blue Sky

Commenting on the contract win with the North American OEM, Ethernity’s chief executive David Levi said the deal would be “the first of many similar agreements with customers in the future," and the contract “confirms that our extensive networking functionality offers tremendous value to the market and is an example of how we can build strong partnerships with industry leaders".

Rob O'Hara, Ethernity's vice president of International Sales, said Ethernity’s proven ability to customise its solution to fit existing customer hardware results in a much shorter time-to-market for the OEM.

"The decline in the development and availability of network processors on [application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)] for this market makes porting Ethernity's firmware onto FPGA extremely attractive to tier 1 vendors, who can now purchase FPGAs for the price of ASICs," said O’Hara.