MINDSPEED Technologies, represented by Caelera , has expanded its 144 x 144 and 72 x 72 crosspoint switch families to include 4.25Gbps crosspoint switches that target 1x to 4x fibre channel (FC) systems, and 5Gbps crosspoint switches that target systems with native data rates of up to 5Gbps.
These next generation crosspoint switches integrate the company's patented Amplif-Eye signal-conditioning technology, making them suitable for multi-rate backplane-oriented systems.
The new switches are designed for 1x to 4x FC storage area network (SAN) switches and directors, metropolitan area network (MAN) systems, and any systems requiring redundancy or backplane switching.
The 72 x 72 M21141G4 and the 144 x 144 M21161G4 devices support data rates of up to 4.25Gbps, while the 72 x 72 M21141G5 and 144 x144 M21161G5 devices support data rates of up to 5Gbps.
The switches feature programmable input equalisation, output pre-emphasis, and a single power source, while offering the industry's lowest power consumption in their respective size and feature set.
By including features such as input equalisation, output pre-emphasis and a single power source, the new devices reduce overall system cost and increase performance.
The input equalisation circuit offered in the devices' input buffers is capable of receiving 4.25Gbps signals through 46 inches of FR4 PCB traces and four backplane connectors, without any power penalty or bit errors.
In addition, the output pre-emphasis circuits increase backplane driving capability at these data rates without consuming any additional power.
The switches' proprietary design provides the necessary channel-isolation capabilities to eliminate crosstalk interference while maintaining low power consumption.
The protocol-agnostic switches support any combination of fibre channel (1x, 2x, 4x, and 10x), SONET, Infiniband, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet traffic.
Mindspeed's latest offerings add programmable output pre-emphasis to boost the high frequency content of the output signal using amplitude and duration settings.
Other features include input equalization to remove deterministic jitter from the signal and Mindspeed's PowerScaler power conservation technology, which further reduces already-low power consumption by enabling unused portions of the devices to be turned off either manually or automatically without host overhead or intervention.
The devices also include built-in system test features, including a fourth-generation fully independent dual pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) transmitter/receiver that eliminates the need for external equipment to test high-speed signal integrity and a JitterMeter capability that allows the host controller to measure the jitter of the incoming signal.
Typical power consumption for the M21161G4 and M21161G5, with all channels configured and active, is 13W, while the M21141G4 and M21141G5 consume 6.5W under the same conditions.
The devices are packaged in 1156-terminal, 35mm ceramic ball grid arrays (CBGAs) with a case temperature range of 0°C to 95°C.