Pat, an article from CMP Techweb re: ATM chip makers.
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May 25, 1998, TechWeb News
ATM revival attracts suppliers
By Mark LaPedus
Looking to capitalize on the rebirth of the ATM equipment market, several companies are unveiling new products and strategies in advance of next week's ATM Year '98 trade show in San Jose.
Integrated Device Technology Inc. (IDT), Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Corp., and a few other chip makers are rolling out new ATM devices. PMC-Sierra Inc., meanwhile, has completed its acquisition of Integrated Telecom Technology Inc. (IgT) for $55 million. That deal, which was announced in April, enables one-stop shopping for LAN/WAN ICs.
PMC-Sierra, based in Burnaby, British Columbia, offers physical-layer ATM chips, Sonet ICs, 1-Gbit Ethernet devices, and related products. IgT, an ATM chip specialist based in Gaithersburg, Md., is a major player in the ATM segmen-tation-and-reassembly (SAR) and switch segments.
Having endured a few setbacks, the ATM chip business is expected to grow to $199.6 million this year, up 39.5% from $143 million in 1997, according to Shannon Pleasant, an industry analyst at In-Stat Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Billed in the early 1990s as the next desktop LAN standard, ATM hit a wall following the emergence of Fast Ethernet and now 1-Gbit Ethernet. Consequently, ATM became a niche-oriented market in the WAN space. Recently, however, it has undergone a bit of a revival, according to Pleasant.
"ATM has been deployed as an end-to-end backbone network, but we're seeing some new applications in the market," said Santanu Das, president and chief executive of TranSwitch Corp., a major supplier of ATM and Sonet chips. Earlier this year, the Shelton, Conn.-based company introduced a single-chip, ATM-based SAR processor derived from its own proprietary RISC chip core.
One of the emerging applications for ATM is the exploding xDSL arena. In fact, xDSL-based service providers hope to transport data over ATM networks, according to Carl Hagenmaier, director of network products at IDT, Santa Clara, Calif.
Known for its SRAMs and x86-based processors, IDT is quietly becoming a major force in ATM.
This week, IDT will announce its latest ATM products, a family of single-chip SARs that integrate 3-V/5-V available-bit-rate (ABR) functions on the same device. IDT also sells physical-layer ATM ICs.
IDT's new SAR chips, the IDT77252 and IDT77222, are designed for ATM networks running at up to 155 Mbits/s. The flagship IDT77252 is priced at $41 in 10,000s, while the IDT77222 costs $20 in similar quantities. The chips are sampling, with production slated for the third quarter.
Both products support 0-, 3/4-, and 5-type ATM Adaptive Layers (AALs). They also support raw-cell formats for ABR, constant bit rate (CBR), variable bit rate (VBR), and unassigned bit rate (UBR).
Recently, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Rockwell also introduced an ATM-based SAR chip. The company will soon come out with another ATM device, but it declined to give details.
ATM chip companies are keeping a close eye on PMC-Sierra, especially after its acquisition of IgT. "A lot of companies dabble in the ATM chip market, but we're very focused on expanding our presence," said Glenn Bindley, director of strategic marketing at PMC-Sierra.
"PMC was already one of the top three players in the ATM chip market," In-Stat's Pleasant said. "The acquisition of IgT will strengthen PMC's position in the ATM market."
IgT and PMC-Sierra were among the world's top five ATM chip makers last year, according to data compiled by In-Stat and Semico Research Corp., Phoenix.
The other top ATM chip suppliers were Cypress Semiconductor Corp., LSI Logic Corp., and TranSwitch. It's unclear which chip maker is the overall leader in the fragmented ATM IC business. Emerging ATM chip makers not among the top five include Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corp., Rockwell, and several U.S. fabless design houses.
Copyright r 1998 CMP Media Inc.
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Bill |
