FPGA CAM/TCAM

It looks like Altera's Flex20 is the only FPGA with build in support
for
instantiate high density CAM/TCAM.    The Xilinx approach not as
dense as Altera.  I am looking for a 70x16K solutions and can't find
any good one.

FLEX20 is .15 um and 5 years old.

But Altera doesn't seem to support CAM in the later Cyclone or Stratix.


Does anyone know why?

High density CAM seems like a valuable addition to the megasize FPGA
we have today, especially for network device.

Almost all the CAM I seen are expensive and require over 100 pins to
interface to them and cost over $40.

Would be very nice to stuff them inside a Cyclone or Spartan.


-Tony

tony.p.lee@gmail.com wrote:
> It looks like Altera's Flex20 is the only FPGA with build in support
> for CAM/TCAM.   
> But Altera doesn't seem to support CAM in the later Cyclone or Stratix.
> Does anyone know why?

I expect that most customers didn't use it.

> High density CAM seems like a valuable addition to the megasize FPGA
> we have today, especially for network device.

The Altera CAM was inadequate for serious IP/IPv6 applications.
For less demanding applications, there are other ways
to cover a CAM function.


        -- Mike Treseler