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Network processors have emerged to support the ever-changing and complex packet processing functions at media speed [3]. In this paper, we present the IBM PowerNP NP4GS3¹ network processor. PowerNP provides wire-speed packet processing and forwarding capability through a set of programmable embedded processors and co-processors with a multiplicity of high-bandwidth embedded and external memories [1, 2]. Co-processors operate in parallel with processors and perform functions that are computationally intensive to perform in software such as classification, checksum calculation, tree search (for table lookup), statistic gathering, and traffic policing. With an integrated switch interface, PowerNP provides the basis for a wide range of solutions from a low-end stand-alone system to a large multirack system through an external switching fabric. PowerNP supports multiple network interfaces through integrated MACS: up to 40 10/100 Ethernet, 4 Gigabit Ethernet, and 1 OC-48 packet-over-SONET (POS). It has an embedded IBM PowerPC processor that can function as the control point (CP) for the system. For an externally attached CP option, it provides a PCI bus interface that can be used to communicate with the internal PowerPC as well as other processors within PowerNP.