Vitesse connectivity portfolio hits data speeds of 14 Gbps

CAMARILLO, USA: Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. announced the VSC7224, a multi-protocol, adaptive quad channel extender. For use in a wide variety of network equipment targeting support for next-generation protocols such as 10G/40G/100G Ethernet, Infiniband FDR, and 16G Fibre Channel, the VSC7224 delivers the industry’s widest data rate range from 155 Mbps to 14.1 Gbps and power consumption as low as 100mW per channel.

Explosive demand for cloud computing services, multimedia content and mobile access has placed unprecedented strain on networking systems. Forced to rapidly upgrade network equipment, many Carrier and Enterprise service providers choose to convert legacy systems to accommodate the higher bandwidth. This preserves their infrastructure investments and reduces capital expenditures.

Signal integrity impairments and higher power become key considerations which must be managed. To improve performance and range, higher bandwidth links require better control over signal quality, which must also be balanced with lower power consumption requirements.

Vitesse’s VSC7224 offers a comprehensive, low power signal integrity solution which can easily and adaptively compensate for signal degradation in challenging network environments. Featuring Vitesse’s proprietary adaptive FlexEQ technology, the VSC7224 delivers the industry’s broadest hardware-based equalization suite, capable of equalizing multiple 14 Gbps signals over ranges greater than 65 inches of FR4 board trace or 20m of 24AWG twin-ax copper cable.

Unlike competitive solutions, the VSC7224 has four Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) taps to combat impairments in the signal from crosstalk and reflections, achieving an Isolation to Crosstalk Ratio (ICR) of better than 12dB. The hardware-enabled adaptive receiver on the VSC7224 eliminates the arduous process of manually optimizing each individual lossy channel. With the benefit of the adaptive receiver, together with Vitesse’s renowned VScope embedded waveform viewing technology, total system design time can be reduced by an estimated 30% compared to using manually optimized solutions.

“The combination of autonomous adaptive equalization and a Clock & Data Recovery (CDR) unit that can be used at multiple speeds to effectively reset the jitter budget, makes this channel extender extremely useful for next-generation systems, especially to reduce system design time and improve yields,” said Abhi Dugar, research manager, wired communications semiconductor research at IDC. “As networks move to mixes of Ethernet, Infiniband, and Fibre Channel, it becomes increasingly important to design for multiprotocol environments operating at a variety of rates.”

Capable of operating in either re-driver (without a CDR) or re-timer modes, the VSC7224 offers maximum flexibility to its users. These options enable the user to re-time the incoming signal with a CDR, or run it in re-driver mode to reduce system power. The VSC7224 can be controlled through the two-wire interface for maximum programmability, or pin strapped to reduce system complexity and eliminate the cost of an external microcontroller.

The device also allows a high degree of application flexibility, with each channel’s CDR able to independently operate at any distinct data rate between 155 Mbps and 14.1 Gbps through the inclusion of built-in frequency synthesizers.