In the past, there has been some interest in PMCS. I'm not sure how widely the stock is followed anymore on the thread (I know you follow it Eric), but for those who keep an eye on it, I thought this article might be of interest.
biz.yahoo.com
Monday February 5, 5:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
PMC-Sierra Introduces Industry's Highest Density Inverse Multiplexing Solutions for Multiservice Access and Third Generation Wireless
S/UNI-IMA-84 Provides Over 10 Times Density Improvement for T1/E1 ATM Inverse Multiplexer Designs
BURNABY, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2001-- PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq:PMCS - news) today announced three Inverse Multiplexer for ATM (IMA) products. The PM7341 S/UNI-IMA-84 supports an industry leading 84 T1 or 63 E1 links in a single device and is optimized for T1/E1 over fiber applications in Multiservice ATM switches, Metro-Optical Access switches and Third Generation (3G) Wireless Base Station Controllers. The PM7342 S/UNI-IMA-32 supports up to 32 links and is optimized for high density T1, E1 or ADSL over copper applications in DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs), Multiservice Access Multiplexers, and 3G Wireless Base Station Controllers. For low link count applications such as Integrated Access Devices (IAD) and 3G Base Stations -- the PM7340 S/UNI-IMA-8 supports up to 8 T1, E1 or ADSL links. All three devices set a new benchmark for device density in their respective classes -- the S/UNI-IMA-84 replaces 10 or more devices using previously available solutions (see Figure 1).
IMA Bridges the Bandwidth Gap between T1 and T3
Today service providers offer broad availability for 1.5 Mbit/s T1 services. The explosive demand for high data rate applications such as videoconferencing and LAN interconnect is driving the need for access speeds beyond 1.5 Mbit/s. Currently the next standardized service rate beyond T1 is 45 Mbit/s T3. T3 services are often more than 10 times the cost of T1, have limited availability, and provide more bandwidth than many users require. IMA technology is designed to bridge the bandwidth gap between T1 and T3 by combining multiple low cost T1 lines into a single higher speed service at multiples of 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6 Mbit/s or higher. In addition to IMA over T1, the S/UNI-IMA family also supports multiplexing of E1 and ADSL links (see Figure 2).
``We worked closely with PMC-Sierra on the definition of the S/UNI-IMA chip and the S/UNI-IMA software driver to ensure compliance to the stringent requirements for deployment by the major carriers,'' said Thomas Alex Hamilton, system architect at Cisco Systems. ``The combination of the S/UNI-IMA-84 and TEMUX-84 meets the port density, power and performance required by our next generation multiservice switches,'' continued Hamilton.
S/UNI-IMA Further Strengthens Industry's Most Comprehensive
Multiservice Offering
These three new devices join PMC-Sierra's broad portfolio of high density multiservice access solutions which includes the SPECTRA(TM) SONET/SDH framers, TEMUX(TM) T1/E1 framers, AAL1gator(TM) circuit emulation processors, MECA(TM) Voice-over-Packet processors, FREEDM(TM) HDLC packet processors, S/UNI®-APEX(TM) ATM/packet traffic managers and switches, and S/UNI®-ATLAS(TM) policing and OAM devices. The S/UNI-IMA provides the next key element to extend PMC-Sierra's multiservice architecture by providing the silicon integration necessary to allow next generation equipment to deliver channelized OC-48 multiservice line cards. S/UNI-IMA is fully compliant to the ATM Forum IMA 1.1 standard and is backwards compatible to the IMA 1.0 standard.
``The S/UNI-IMA-84 completes PMC-Sierra's multiservice architecture,'' says Tom Sun, director of strategic marketing for PMC-Sierra's Access Products Division. ``By offering a comprehensive set of interoperable multiservice components, we provide customers with an enormous time-to-market advantage for a broad spectrum of services including Frame Relay (FR), Internet Protocol (IP), Dedicated Private Line, ATM IMA/UNI, Integrated Voice and Data, Voice-over- IP and Voice-over-ATM'' (see Figure 3).
Pricing, Availability and Customer Support
The PM7341 S/UNI-IMA-84 and PM7342 S/UNI-IMA-32 devices are packaged in a 27x27mm2 416-pin PBGA and are priced at $584 and $335 respectively in 1KU quantities through distribution. The PM7340 S/UNI-IMA-8 is in a 23x23 mm2 324-pin PBGA package and is priced at $125 in 1KU quantities through distribution. All S/UNI-IMA devices are low-power 1.8V CMOS devices rated for industrial temperature range operation (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius) and sampling in Q1, 2001. A comprehensive support package including datasheets, software drivers, user manual, hardware reference designs, device models and a technical overview is available on PMC-Sierra's web site at pmc-sierra.com.
About PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra is accelerating the broadband revolution. PMC-Sierra's extensive family of broadband communication semiconductors enables the equipment that makes up the backbone of the Internet. PMC-Sierra offers worldwide technical and sales support including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. PMC-Sierra is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ``PMCS''. The company is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The Nasdaq-100 Index is the benchmark for the Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock (Amex:QQQ - news).
PMC-Sierra develops Internet Protocol (IP), ATM, SONET/SDH, T1/E1, T3/E3, Voice-over-Packet, wireless infrastructure, MIPS(TM) microprocessor, and Gigabit Ethernet solutions for wide area network (WAN), and Internet networking equipment. The company's quality system is registered with the Quality Management Institute to the ISO 9001 standard. As co-founder of the SATURN® Development Group, PMC-Sierra works with over 30 other member companies to define and develop interoperable, standard-compliant solutions for high speed networking applications. For more information about PMC-Sierra, visit pmc-sierra.com.
Technical Glossary
3G Third Generation
AAL1gator(TM) ATM Adaptation Layer 1 SAR Processor
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
ASSP Application Specific Standard Product
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
CMOS Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
COMET-QUAD(TM) Four Channel Combined E1/T1 Transceiver
DS Digital Signal
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DSLAM Digital Subscriber Loop Access
Multiplexers
E1, E3 European (world) standards for 2.048
Mbit/s and 34.368 Mbit/s transmission,
respectively
FR Frame Relay
FREEDM(TM) Frame Engine and Data Link Manager
HDLC High-level Data Link Control
IAD Integrated Access Device
IMA Inverse Multiplexing over ATM
IP Internet Protocol
LAN Local Area Network
LIU Line Interface Unit
LVDS Low Voltage Differential Signalling
Mbit/s One million bits per second
MECA(TM) Multiprocessor Embedded Communications
Accelerator Digital Signal processors
(DSP) optimized for Voice-Over-Packet
processing applications
MIPS(TM) Million Instructions Per Second
OAM Operations, Administration and
Maintenance
OC Optical Carrier
PBGA Plastic Ball Grid Array
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SPECTRA(TM) SONET/SDH Payload Extractor/Aligner
SONET Synchronous Optical Network
SRAM Static RAM
STM Synchronous Transport Module
S/UNI® SATURN User Network Interface
S/UNI®-APEX(TM) ATM/PACKET Traffic Manager and Switch
S/UNI®-ATLAS(TM) SATURN® User Network Interface ATM
Layer Solution
S/UNI®-QJET SATURN® User Network Interface for
J2/E3/T3
T1 North American standard for 1.544 Mbit/s
transmission
T3 North American standard for a TDM
digital channel carrier that operates at
44.736 Mbit/s. It can multiplex 28 DS-1
signals and is synonymous with DS-3
TEMUX(TM) High Density T1/E1 Framer with
Integrated VT/TU Mapper and M13
Multiplexer
UTOPIA Universal Test and Operation Physical
Interface for ATM
VORTEX(TM) A full-featured, highly integrated
solution for ATM or packet-based
Digital Subscriber Line Access
Multiplexers (DSLAMs)
WAN Wide Area Network
(c)Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved. SATURN® and S/UNI® are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. AAL1gator(TM), APEX(TM), ATLAS(TM), COMET-QUAD(TM), FREEDM(TM), MECA(TM), MIPS(TM), SPECTRA(TM), TEMUX(TM), VORTEX(TM) and PMC-Sierra(TM) are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc.
Note: A Photo is available at URL:
businesswire.com
A PowerPoint Slideshow with additional figures is available
at newstream.com |
