Modeling and analysis of power in multicore network processors

With the emergence of multicore network processors in support of high-performance computing and networking applications, power consumption has become a problem of increasing significance. Lower-power multicore processors, such as the Intel IXP network processors, have been employed in network devices to try to address this problem; however, effective tools are still needed to assist in the exploration of the “performance versus power” design space. In this paper, we present a composite power model that simultaneously leverages three existing power-modeling tools (Cacti, Wattch, and Orion) to model the power consumption of Intel IXP2400. This model is then integrated with an open-source Intel IXP2400 NP simulator called NePSim2 and validated against its datasheet to within 5% of actual power consumption. We utilize the simulator and power model to explore how architectural parameters affect the performance and power consumption of a set of highperformance security applications, th...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: IPPS
• Authors: S. Huang, Y. Luo, W. Feng
• Keywords: Distributed And Parallel Computing, IPPS 2008, Multicore Network Processors, Power Consumption, Power Model