Cavium

Cavium, Inc. was a United States fabless semiconductor company headquartered in San Jose, California. It designed processors, system-on-chips, network interface products, security accelerators, and board-level solutions for equipment manufacturers and infrastructure providers rather than manufacturing chips in its own fabrication plants. Its principal markets included networking, telecommunications, enterprise storage, servers, security appliances, video processing, and data-center infrastructure. The company was founded in 2000 by Syed B. Ali and M. Raghib Hussain. It initially built its business around specialized security processors, entering commercial sales in late 2001 with the Nitrox product family. These processors were designed to accelerate computationally intensive security functions such as IPsec, SSL, virtual private networking, and intrusion-detection workloads. This focus gave Cavium a position in network appliances and other embedded systems where dedicated acceleration could improve throughput and reduce the processing burden on general-purpose CPUs. Cavium broadened its portfolio in 2004 with the introduction of Octeon, a family of multicore processors based on the 64-bit MIPS instruction set. Octeon products were aimed at routers, switches, network appliances, storage systems, and other equipment that required packet processing and embedded system integration. The family expanded from early two-, four-, eight-, and sixteen-core configurations to products supporting substantially higher core counts, including a 1-to-48-core range announced in 2012. Cavium also offered processor and board-level products that allowed equipment makers to build customized infrastructure systems around its silicon. The company became publicly traded in May 2007. During the following years it expanded through acquisitions and broadened its technology base. In 2011, Cavium Networks changed its corporate name to Cavium, Inc., reflecting the company’s wider product and market scope. By that period, its workforce had grown considerably, with employees distributed internationally and a substantial concentration at its San Jose headquarters. A major strategic development came with the move into ARM-based server processors. In 2014 Cavium announced ThunderX, a server system-on-chip based on the ARMv8 architecture and offering up to 48 cores. ThunderX targeted cloud infrastructure, web hosting, high-performance networking, storage, and other data-center workloads. The company also expanded into Ethernet switching through products developed in cooperation with Xpliant, complementing its processing and networking portfolio. Cavium’s product strategy therefore combined MIPS-based embedded and networking processors, ARM-based server silicon, security acceleration, and Ethernet connectivity. Its customers and target users were primarily original equipment manufacturers, system designers, cloud and data-center operators, telecommunications suppliers, and enterprise infrastructure vendors. The company competed through application-specific integration, multicore performance, networking specialization, and support for emerging data-center architectures. In November 2017, Cavium’s board agreed to a transaction under which Marvell Technology Group would acquire the company for approximately $6 billion in cash and stock. The merger was completed on July 6, 2018. Cavium ceased to operate as an independent publicly traded company, and its technologies and product lines became part of Marvell’s broader semiconductor portfolio.

Cavium was established in 2000 in the United States by Syed B. Ali and M. Raghib Hussain. The company was created to develop specialized semiconductor technology for communications and security infrastructure. Rather than manufacturing silicon itself, Cavium followed a fabless model, concentrating on chip architecture, design, software support, and system integration while relying on external manufacturing partners. Its first major commercial direction was network security processing. In late 2001 Cavium began selling the Nitrox family, which accelerated functions including IPsec, SSL, virtual private networking, and intrusion-detection workloads. These products were designed for routers, security appliances, and other embedded systems where dedicated acceleration could deliver higher throughput than software running solely on a general-purpose processor. In 2004 the company expanded into broader networking and embedded computing with the Octeon family. Octeon used a 64-bit MIPS instruction set and combined multiple processing cores with capabilities intended for packet handling, communications workloads, storage, and network equipment. Early products were offered in two-, four-, eight-, and sixteen-core versions. Cavium continued to increase the scale of the architecture and in 2012 announced an Octeon range covering configurations from one to 48 cores. Cavium became a public company in May 2007. It subsequently grew both organically and through acquisitions, adding technology and engineering capacity in networking, security, storage, and related infrastructure markets. By 2011, the company had approximately 850 employees worldwide, including about 250 at its San Jose headquarters according to the contemporary company description. On June 17, 2011, Cavium Networks, Inc. changed its name to Cavium, Inc. The change reflected a business that had expanded beyond a narrowly defined networking identity. The company’s next major architectural transition was its move into ARM-based server processors. In 2014 Cavium announced ThunderX, a server system-on-chip based on the ARMv8 architecture with up to 48 cores. ThunderX was aimed at cloud computing, web serving, data-center infrastructure, storage, and high-performance networking. The product gave Cavium a more direct presence in the emerging market for ARM-based servers and complemented its established embedded and networking processor business. Cavium also developed Ethernet switching products in cooperation with Xpliant beginning in 2014. Together with its processors, network interface products, security accelerators, and board-level offerings, these products allowed the company to address a broad set of infrastructure designs. Its customers were primarily equipment manufacturers and system developers building routers, switches, appliances, servers, storage systems, and telecommunications hardware. In November 2017, Cavium’s board agreed to be acquired by Marvell Technology Group in a transaction involving cash and stock and reported at approximately $6 billion. The deal combined Cavium’s networking, processor, and data-center technologies with Marvell’s semiconductor portfolio. The transaction was completed on July 6, 2018. After the merger, Cavium no longer operated as an independent public company; its technologies and product families became part of Marvell’s business.

• 2018

  Acquisition is completed

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Marvell completed its acquisition of Cavium on July 6, 2018.

• 2017

  Marvell announces agreement to acquire Cavium

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Cavium’s board agreed to a cash-and-stock acquisition by Marvell Technology Group.

• 2014

  ThunderX is announced

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Cavium announced the ARMv8-based ThunderX server SoC, designed with up to 48 cores for data-center and infrastructure workloads.

• 2011

  Corporate name changes to Cavium

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Cavium Networks, Inc. adopted the Cavium, Inc. name.

• 2007

  Cavium becomes publicly traded

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Cavium completed its public listing in May, reporting a workforce of approximately 175 employees at the time.

• 2004

  OCTEON is launched

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  The company introduced its 64-bit MIPS-based OCTEON multicore processor family for networking and embedded applications.

• 2001

  Nitrox security processors enter the market

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Cavium began selling Nitrox processors for security functions including IPsec, SSL, VPN, and intrusion detection.

• 2000

  Cavium is founded

  [1]Caviumen.wikipedia.org

  Syed B. Ali and M. Raghib Hussain co-founded the semiconductor company in the United States.

Specialized, high-performance semiconductor infrastructure for network equipment manufacturers, security appliance vendors, storage suppliers, telecommunications systems, and data-center operators.

• Security processors · 2001

  Nitrox

  Nitrox was Cavium’s early security-processor family, introduced commercially in late 2001. The products accelerated computationally intensive network-security functions such as IPsec, SSL, virtual private networking, and intrusion detection. They were intended for security appliances, network equipment, and embedded systems that needed high-throughput cryptographic and inspection capabilities.

• Networking and embedded processors · 2004

  OCTEON

  OCTEON was Cavium’s MIPS-based multicore processor family for routers, switches, network appliances, storage systems, and other embedded infrastructure. The 64-bit architecture was offered in progressively larger core configurations, beginning with two-, four-, eight-, and sixteen-core products and later extending to a range announced at up to 48 cores. OCTEON combined general processing with capabilities suited to packet and communications workloads.

• ARM server system-on-chip · 2014

  ThunderX

  ThunderX was Cavium’s ARMv8-based server SoC family, announced in 2014 with configurations reaching up to 48 cores. It targeted cloud infrastructure, web serving, data centers, high-performance networking, and storage. ThunderX represented Cavium’s move from primarily embedded and networking processors into server-class computing based on the ARM architecture.

• Ethernet switching · 2014

  Ethernet switching products

  Cavium offered Ethernet switching products developed in cooperation with Xpliant from 2014. These products complemented Cavium’s processor and networking portfolio by addressing switching functions in data-center and communications equipment.

• 2017

  Agree to acquisition by MarvellM&A

  Background

  Cavium and Marvell each operated in semiconductor infrastructure markets, including networking and data-center technologies.

  Action taken

  Cavium’s board approved a proposed acquisition by Marvell Technology Group for approximately $6 billion in cash and stock.

  Aftermath

  The transaction closed on July 6, 2018, combining Cavium’s technology portfolio with Marvell and ending Cavium’s independent corporate existence.

  Transaction value. $6 billion (Announced November 2017; completed July 6, 2018)

  Source

• 2014

  Enter the ARM server processor market with ThunderXProduct launch

  Background

  Cavium sought to extend its infrastructure semiconductor business beyond MIPS-based networking and embedded processors.

  Action taken

  The company announced ThunderX, an ARMv8 server system-on-chip with up to 48 cores.

  Aftermath

  ThunderX became the company’s principal platform for addressing ARM-based server, cloud, storage, and data-center workloads.

  Source

• 2011

  Adopt the Cavium corporate nameStrategy

  Background

  The business had expanded from its original networking identity into security, storage, embedded processing, and broader infrastructure silicon.

  Action taken

  Cavium Networks, Inc. changed its name to Cavium, Inc. on June 17, 2011.

  Aftermath

  The shorter name became the company’s corporate identity until its acquisition by Marvell.

  Source

1. 1Caviumen.wikipedia.org