NEWS: Networking IC, System Companies Choose Rambus High-Bandwidth Interface Technology
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-- LSI Logic, NEC, Texas Instruments adopt memory interface for ICs; Berkeley Networks and
Brocade Communications Systems use technology in gigabit switches --
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 1998-- Rambus Inc. today announced that its high-performance memory-interface technology is seeing significant adoption in the gigabit networking market at both the integrated circuit (IC) and system levels. Products adopting the technology include Asynchronous Transfer Mode, gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel switching ICs and systems from LSI Logic, NEC, Texas Instruments, Berkeley Networks Inc. and Brocade Communications Systems. All of the products use the currently available Base and Concurrent Rambus technologies.
''The communications segment is an important new market for Rambus technology,'' said Subodh Toprani, vice president and general manager of Rambus Inc.'s Logic Products Division. ''The bandwidth needs of packet-based switching systems are served well by the highly-efficient, multiple simultaneous transaction architecture of Rambus DRAMs.''
Driving the adoption of Rambus technology in the segment are increasing data-transmission speeds coupled to the simultaneous increase in the number of network connections (or ports) supported in each system. As a result, system designers face a particularly difficult challenge in the memory subsystem: to deliver sustained throughput while minimizing ''price per port''.
''Rambus technology has emerged as the preferred solution because it provides the highest sustained performance per megabyte of memory as well as the highest performance per controller pin used,'' added Toprani. ''Traditional static RAM approaches are no longer considered cost effective, while synchronous DRAMs have issues of cost and controller pin-count because of the number of parallel devices needed to deliver required performance.''
Currently available Rambus technology transfers data at speeds approaching 700 Megabits per second per pin and saves in excess of 50 pins on the memory controller over conventional memory. Further, by exploiting the dual-bank architecture of Concurrent Rambus DRAMs (RDRAMs(TM)), greater than 3.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of bandwidth can be ensured from a single RDRAM device and more than 7.0 Gbps can be ensured from as few as two RDRAM devices.
ICs Support Major Network Protocols
One maker of control logic exploiting these benefits is LSI Logic. The company co-developed a Fibre Channel switch application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with Brocade Communications Systems that uses two Base Rambus channels to provide a total peak bandwidth of 450 Mbytes/sec from each device.
Similarly, NEC has designed a single-chip ATM switch, called the ATM SW controller, that uses two channels of Concurrent Rambus technology to realize an ATM switch system with a total peak bandwidth of 5.89 Gbps. The device is packaged in a 672-pin BGA and fabricated in 0.35-micron CMOS. NEC chose Rambus technology because it dramatically reduced system form factor. Typically an ATM system requires large cell buffers, but by using two channels of 18-Mbit Concurrent Rambus DRAMs, the overhead time for data transfers is significantly reduced.
LSI Logic and NEC join Texas Instruments, which announced last year that it will create next-generation communications ICs incorporating Rambus technology. The first substantiation is ThunderSWITCH II, a nine-port Fast Ethernet and gigabit-Ethernet-capable switch-on-a-chip that leverages Rambus' 600-MHz Concurrent technology.
''As the leader in Ethernet-switching silicon, TI believes that ThunderSWITCH II and Concurrent Rambus are poised to drive the exploding Fast Ethernet switching market,'' said Mike Hogan, director of switching products, Network Business Unit, Semiconductor Group, Texas Instruments. ''We believe the combination of the Rambus memory interface and ThunderSWITCH's unique architecture results in the highest performing Ethernet switching solution in the industry.''
Systems Target Gigabit Networking
On the system side, Berkeley Networks Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.) is using Rambus technology in its exponeNT family of gigabit-Ethernet intelligent switch/routers. In one configuration, the system uses 28 Rambus channels operating at 600 MHz for a cumulative system bandwidth of 16.8 Gbytes per second. The Rambus interface is implemented in the company's eCore switch/router ASICs and associated DRAMs.
''Media-rich groupware, object-based software, Web publishing, distributed databases, collaborative video and 'push' technology significantly increase the demands on network bandwidth,'' said Donal Byrne, vice president of marketing and product management at Berkeley Networks Inc. ''The bandwidth demands and packet-buffering requirements for Berkeley's innovative exponeNT switch architecture could not be addressed with traditional memory technologies. We chose to partner with Rambus because they had the only memory technology that could meet the bandwidth demands of our 96 Gbit-per-second I/O capacity switch while providing ten times more buffering space compared to traditional approaches by
switch vendors for the same cost.''
Brocade Communications Systems (San Jose, Calif.), a leader in Fibre Channel switching systems, uses Rambus technology in the ASIC of its SilkWorm(TM) FL_Port Option Card. The ASIC uses a two-channel Base Rambus implementation, and provides greater than 450 Mbytes per second of bandwidth from each ASIC. The card provides two ports for connecting two individual Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops that can support up to 126 devices each. The SilkWorm switch creates a fabric - a communications infrastructure for networking servers and storage - which is the essential element for the development of
Server-Storage Area Networks (SANs).
''Brocade chose Rambus technology primarily because it was the most cost-effective solution,'' said Paul Bonderson, vice president of engineering. ''An equivalent-bandwidth SDRAM solution would have required 58 more pins on the ASIC, and the lack of available 'by 9' organization would have required more parts, increasing both cost and real estate. In addition, Brocade was the first company to use this technology in the 500K process with LSI Logic, and Rambus did a wonderful job supporting us from the beginning to the end of the project.''
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - news), based in Mountain View, Calif., develops and licenses high-speed chip-to-chip communications technology that enables semiconductor memory devices to keep pace with faster generations of processors and controllers. Providers of Rambus-based integrated circuits include the world's leading DRAM, ASIC and PC controller manufacturers. Even while delivering higher performance, Rambus technology enables low pin-count, high-bandwidth components to use conventional integrated circuit fab processing, packaging and printed circuit-board designs; the result is low-cost, compact systems. Currently, eight of the world's top 10 semiconductor companies license Rambus technology and seven of the world's top PC makers currently ship systems using the technology. More information on Rambus Inc. and its high-bandwidth interface technology is available at ttp://www.rambus.com. |
