Back up the truck, what a GREAT company to be associated with:
SEEQ Technology's Next Generation Fast Ethernet PHY IC Selected by Xircom; Ethernet Adapter Card Industry Leader Chooses SEEQ for Future PC-Card Designs
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 1998--SEEQ Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:SEEQ), the leading independent developer of Fast Ethernet MAC controllers and PHY transceivers, Tuesday said Xircom Inc. will incorporate SEEQ's recently announced LQ 80221 10/100-TX Physical Layer (PHY) integrated circuit into its industry-leading Fast Ethernet adapter-card designs.
Xircom selected the LQ 80221 PHY for its superior performance and cutting-edge features not found in other vendors' PHY solutions.
"We chose to incorporate the SEEQ transceiver in our Fast Ethernet PC Cards because of its performance, small form factor and low power consumption," said Patrick Parker, Xircom's vice president of engineering.
"All of these criteria are pivotal in developing quality, high-performance communications solutions that meet the demanding needs of mobile users."
The SEEQ LQ 80221 is a cost-effective, single-chip CMOS integrated circuit that allows switch, hub and adapter-card networking engineers to implement in their products the complete 10/100Mbps Ethernet physical layer, from the Media Independent Interface (MII) bus to magnetics.
It offers a low 0.75W typical power consumption and requires only minor inexpensive, passive external components. The LQFP 80221 package offers the industry's smallest footprint, at just 10mm by 10mm. With a 1.4mm thickness, the 80221 model is ideal for space-limited applications such as Xircom's Fast Ethernet PC cards.
"We worked closely with Xircom to satisfy a wide range of engineering objectives during the company's PC-card design phase," said Robert Frostholm, SEEQ's vice president of sales and marketing.
"Because SEEQ is the only vendor in the industry that designs and manufactures both MAC controller and physical layer integrated circuits, we have a more comprehensive view of our customers' design needs, thereby providing a unique support advantage that other suppliers simply can't match.
"Beyond the performance aspects of the 80221 product, SEEQ's top-notch service, responsiveness and open and continuous communications all played a significant role in Xircom's selection."
Key performance features of the LQ 80221 PHY provide SEEQ customers much improved interoperability at longer cable lengths. Transmit jitter is extremely low, at +/- 0.35nS. As a result, typical Bit Error Rates (BER) are less than 10(-12) across 140 meters of Category 5 cable.
This distance far exceeds the IEEE specification for cable length, which is 100 meters. Not only will customers notice a significant improvement in network performance when using the LQ 80221, but they will even notice a significant improvement when their systems link to other systems that use less-optimal PHYs.
Because the LQ 80221 adds minimal jitter compared with other vendors' products, using the SEEQ PHY even at only one end reduces total jitter, thus improving the BER.
To ensure customers receive the highest quality, SEEQ conducts 100-percent testing of all critical parameters, at 95 degrees Celsius over 125 meter and minimum cable lengths. The products are also fully characterized for incremental cable length performance to guard against short or random cable-length interoperability problems.
In addition to LQ 80221's performance advantages, the transceiver includes a rich feature set that network designers will find very useful. It has a Flow Control option, for example, that eases the common congestion problems that slow Fast Ethernet networks.
When this feature is utilized under heavy traffic conditions, the device automatically transmits a JAM packet, which causes the remote unit to back off and allows the host much-needed time to clear its buffers.
The 80221 PHY device also provides a fully configurable hardware and software status interrupt feature that allows designers to select from 11 different event options, including link failure, loss of synchronization, 10/100 state indication and full/half-duplex state indication.
Event options such as these allow the system to intelligently recover from network failures induced by hardware changes. Other useful features include output tristate and 5-bit (symbol) interface options for repeater applications.
In addition, designers can program transmit output levels to adjust the output template for different loading conditions.
SEEQ Technology is a leading manufacturer of data communications semiconductor products. With headquarters in Fremont, the company is a LAN pioneer, having introduced the first integrated Ethernet controller in 1982. SEEQ's product families include Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (100Base-T) and ATM components.
SEEQ leads the Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) market and offers the broadest line of Fast Ethernet MACs and PHYs in the industry. The company's Ethernet solutions are used in industry-leading applications including network interface cards, hubs/bridges/routers, switches and test equipment.
SEEQ is a contributing member of the IEEE Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet committees and the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance (GEA). For further information about SEEQ and its products, visit the company's World Wide Web site at seeq.com or call 510/226-7400.
CONTACT:
SEEQ Technology Inc., Fremont
Bill Weir, 610/941-2180
bweir@seeq.com
or
Maita/Saviano Public Relations
Lou Saviano, 510/739-0621
lsaviano@pacbell.net
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
BW1025 APR 14,1998
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