Vitesse delivers lowest power carrier Ethernet function for stackable enterprise apps

CAMARILLO, USA: Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. has introduced a simplified, low-power solution for high-density Gigabit Ethernet (GE) switching with its VSC7432 (E-StaX-III-48) and VSC7434 (E-StaX-III-68).

When combined with Vitesse’s SimpliPHY GE PHYs, the E-StaX-III GE switch engines set a new benchmark, delivering 30 percent lower power consumption than competitive solutions in a three-chip design, and making them ideal for cost-effective managed Layer 2 and Layer 3 stackable Enterprise switches.

This E-StaX-III switch engine family underscores Vitesse’s strategy of bringing cost-effective carrier network features to traditional Enterprise network equipment. Low latency, high security and advanced Quality of Service (QoS) features lend themselves readily to applications such as IPTV, media conferencing, and VoIP.

Extensive queuing and traffic statistics provide simplified traffic provisioning, monitoring, and management to meet the performance requirements of next-generation LANs.

The E-StaX-III switch engines provide fast forwarding with a simplified software management environment, including a single point of management that can oversee up to 768 1-GB ports and 32 10-GB ports. Typical time for failover switching between terminating traffic on one stack and recovering traffic on another stack is less than 100 ms. Worst-case latency is reduced by 50-percent within a stack, or in best cases up to 90-percent over less sophisticated management solutions.

E-StaX-III switch engines represent a power-optimized way to accelerate control-plane and datapath applications, with a 416-MHz MIPS processor on-chip serving management functions, and a VCAP-II™ Ternary CAM processor accelerating such datapath functions as packet classification, snooping, redirection, mirroring, and frame filtering.

“The unique stacking ports on E-StaX-III allow stacking connectivity between switches with no additional devices needed and over very cost efficient HDMI-like cables with up to 12G full duplex traffic forwarding per stacking port,” said Martin Olsen, product marketing manager at Vitesse. “As the industry’s lowest chip count solution for Carrier-oriented Enterprise applications, our customers can realize unprecedented BOM cost savings.”

When combined with Vitesse’s latest twelve port VSC8512 SimliPHY GE PHY, the E-StaX-III family allows system designers to deliver carrier-oriented enterprise solutions with the industry’s lowest chip count.

The VSC7432 enables a three-chip solution with 24 1-GB copper ports and dual 10-GB ports, or a six-chip solution with 48 1-GB copper ports. The VSC7434 enables a three-chip solution with 24 1-GB copper ports and quad 10-GB ports, or a six-chip solution with 48 1-GB ports and quad 10-GB ports. In contrast, current competitive solutions require a minimum of four chips for a 24-port solution, and nine chips for a 48-port solution.

The E-StaX-III switch engine and software solutions build upon Vitesse’s E-StaX-34 and the complete Layer 2 software stack already in production with Tier-1 customers. Combined with the recently announced SparX-III family of switches and the common software API, Vitesse’s solutions seamlessly address the full range of Enterprise switch needs providing customers a higher return on investment and faster time-to-market.

Vitesse offers a wide range of software development kits and turnkey solutions for embedded MIPS processors supporting software features that are required in a fully managed Enterprise network.

The VSC7432 and VSC7434 are sampling now.