Vitesse Announces Availability of Breakthrough Crosspoint Switch

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (Pink Sheets: VTSS) today announced availability of its breakthrough 11.5 Gbps 144x144 crosspoint switch enabling a dramatic 40% bandwidth improvement in switches used in Carrier and Enterprise networking environments. The device features Vitesse’s industry-leading signal integrity technology, FlexEQ™, which allows transmission and signal recovery of high-speed signals over lossy printed circuit boards, backplanes and cable media. With the industry in the midst of migrating from 4G Fibre Channel to 8G Fibre Channel; from 1 Gigabit Ethernet to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE); and interfaces shifting from XAUI to XFI, the VSC3144-11 is the industry’s only commercially-available, high-channel device to support switching of these new data rates and interfaces.

The new VSC3144-11 crosspoint features a non-blocking switch matrix that delivers breakthrough 1.656 Terabit per second (Tbps) switching capacity, making it the industry’s highest-capacity semiconductor device. Compatible with the previously announced 6.5G and 8.5G versions, the VSC3144-11 enables a migration path for existing customers as they upgrade network routers and data center cross connect systems to higher capacity and bandwidth levels. Used together, these advanced crosspoints enable low-latency, fully non-blocking switching capability on line cards and switch cards that are pervasive in Core, Metro, and Enterprise environments.

Vitesse proactively brought to market the VSC3144-11, thereby addressing the "perfect storm” convergence around 10 Gbps in telecommunications, Enterprise, and storage networks. The device supports a frequency range up to 11.5 Gbps encompassing virtually all data protocols, including GbE, XAUI, Reduced XAUI (RXAUI), 10 GbE, SONET/SDH and OTN protocols, InfiniBand™ as well as emerging services such as 8G Fibre Channel. Vitesse is meeting the need for a new class of transport gear focused on the next-generation of higher rates such as:

• 9.95328 Gbps OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH
• 10.709 Gbps OTU2 OTN/WDM
• 10.3125 Gbps 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
• 10.51875 Gbps Fibre Channel (10 GFC)
• 11.1 to 11.3 Gbps overclocked OTU2 wrappers (for 10 GbE and 10 GFC over OTN/WDM)

In addition, emerging IEEE and ITU-T standards for 40G and 100G data rates include 4x10G and 10x10G interfaces, exacerbating the need for large asynchronous switching matrices at 10G data rates.

"There is a fundamental shift underway across Carrier and Physical Layer interconnects. Across the board, 10G is seen as a convergence point across multiple protocols. New signal integrity challenges come into play at these speeds and Vitesse is uniquely positioned to help customers overcome these barriers,” said Juan Garza, product marketing manager at Vitesse. "Coupled with backwards compatibility to previous generation crosspoints for central switches and new offerings for line cards, Vitesse is delivering a comprehensive migration path sure to take our customers to this new networking paradigm.”

Newest Members of Industry’s Highest-Performance Crosspoint Switch Portfolio

Boasting over a decade of crosspoint switch and signal integrity breakthroughs, the VSC3144-11 is the latest flagship product to be added to Vitesse’s crosspoint product line. The device is footprint compatible to Vitesse’s previous generation devices, allowing a pin-compatible speed upgrade path for customers using the Vitesse 4.25G VSC3140, 6.5G VSC3144, and 8.5G VSC3144-08. Other features of the VSC3144-11 include:

• DC-to-11.5 Gbps fully differential signal paths with protocol-independent operation
• Adjustable input signal equalization with per-channel and global control
• Adjustable output pre-emphasis with per-channel and global control
• Lowest power available at this bandwidth level with 21W power consumption
• Ability to power-down unused channels for applications needing only a subset of channels

Product Availability

The VSC3144-11 is offered in a 45 mm X 45 mm, 1.27 mm pin pitch, 1072-pin BGA package. Evaluation systems, samples and pre-production volumes are available today, with production status expected in the fourth quarter of 2009. Pricing is available upon request. For more information on the VSC3144-11 visit http://www.vitesse.com/products/product.php?number=VSC3144.

About Vitesse

Vitesse designs, develops, and markets a diverse portfolio of high-performance, cost-competitive semiconductor solutions for Carrier and Enterprise Ethernet networks worldwide. Engineering excellence and dedicated customer service distinguish Vitesse as an industry leader in Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Ethernet-over-SONET, Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI, Optical Transport, and other applications. Vitesse innovation empowers customers to deliver superior products for enterprise, access, metro, and core applications. Additional company and product information is available at www.vitesse.com.

Vitesse is a registered trademark and FlexEQ is a trademark in the United States and/or other jurisdictions of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders.