Solutions II was notified by Cisco, one of the first manufacturers to come forward with the problem, regarding an Intel Atom C2000 Series defect. Solutions II engineering uncovered the issue early February and continues to gather additional data. We wanted to make sure to notify our clients and offer what is known at this time. If your organization is having issues or have questions, please contact us at any time.

Background

Intel Atom C2000 Series defect: (Avoton/Rangeley chips)

Intel Atom C2000 has a flaw that is rendering hardware and products useless and unrecoverable once the error conditions are encountered. The C2000 is typically found in a variety of network gear and low end NAS systems.

Intel’s CFO indicated a product issue that is forcing the business to set money aside to deal with the issue. Intel has also updated their C2000 documentation with the following information:

What Gear is Affected

The faulty clock signal component, which helps synchronize the operation of digital circuits is prone to failure. Several vendors including Cisco, HPE, Juniper etc. are acknowledging use the affected chipset. Cisco has been extremely proactive in notifying customers and expects failure rates to accelerate after 18 months of operation. Popular Cisco gear including ASA security gear, Nexus 9K switches are affected.

Additional Information

A Cisco post with more detailed information can be found here:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/clock-signal.html#~field
https://meraki.cisco.com/blog/clock-signal-component-issue/

Also for Cisco products, the following link has a spreadsheet that can be filled in with the appropriate information to see if your Cisco product is affected by this defect:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/clock-signal.html#~order

It appears that several manufacturers have claimed usage of the affected hardware, below is a site with the most comprehensive list Solutions II has seen so far. The site also has links to other useful information, blogs and notifications from websites regarding the issue.

https://www.auvik.com/media/blog/vendors-clock-signal-flaw-intel-atom-c2000/

Solutions II is still investigating this problem and reviewing inventory of their client base to see if any of their clients are immediately affected. In the meantime, please review the information provided and contact us for additional assistance.