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To: A. Edwards who wrote (2804)9/9/1999 1:37:00 PM
From: The Ox  Respond to of 4710
 
Power X Unveils Switch Fabric Breakthrough at Networld-Interop in Atlanta

TeraChannel(TM) Achieves 4X Throughput in 1/4 Real Estate With

Protocol-Independent Terabit-Capable Architecture

MANCHESTER, England and ATLANTA, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Power X Limited, the leading designer of high-performance switch fabric silicon subsystems, today announced the availability of its breakthrough TeraChannel(TM) chip set. TeraChannel's protocol-independent architecture offers scalability into the Terabit range and provides increased throughput with reduced real estate requirements.

"With TeraChannel we have created a powerful building block for developers of high performance switching and routing systems," said Phil Mercer, chief executive officer of Power X Limited. "TeraChannel is engineered to hide the complexity of a world class switch fabric within a simple-to-use interconnect sub-system. Through the establishment of the Common Switch Interface Consortium (1) (CSIX) and the Power X Partner Program (see press release, September 9, 1999), TeraChannel is emerging as the industry's de-facto switch fabric of choice."

The first generation TeraChannel chip set enables a throughput increase of 4X while using only 1/4 the real estate of leading solutions available today. The combination of increased throughput and reduced real estate means that customers can significantly increase the number of revenue-generating end users that can be attached within the same physical space. The low space requirement also enables customers to build larger, more functional switching and routing systems with lower power consumption requirements.

TeraChannel benefits from its open CSIX interface, which enables plug-and-play connectivity with CSIX-compliant network processors. This design feature enables customers to get new concepts and protocols to market faster and more economically. CSIX compatibility enables customers to focus on adding value to their product offerings by shifting critical design team resources from fabric development efforts to areas where they can achieve product differentiation.

TeraChannel customers save on the cost of fabric development, not only on first-generation products but also on subsequent generations. This is possible because the scalable TeraChannel architecture presents a consistent user interface, from under 10 Gigabits per second to greater than one Terabit per second. The consistency of TeraChannel's architecture means that very little operating software is required, and whatever software is developed can be readily deployed across future generations.

TeraChannel Markets

First-generation TeraChannel targets the higher volume, high-value carrier market. "With the emergence of DWDM within the carrier network, we see demand for bandwidth scale beyond the practical limits of shared memory," said Russell Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing for Power X. "TeraChannel is recognized as a compact and cost-effective solution within SONET and IP-based networks from the edge to the core.

Through interoperation partnerships with manufacturers of advanced network processors (see joint press releases for Sitera, Agere, Vitesse, Sept. 9, 1999). TeraChannel delivers solutions for multi-service access switches, add drop muxes, content-sensitive ISP switches and customer premises equipment systems which address the needs of virtual private networks. In this respect, TeraChannel provides an efficient interconnect for the many network security processors required within these products.

In addition to acceptance in the carrier market, TeraChannel has been adopted for high performance data center switches within enterprise networks where its low latency provides further added value. This feature, along with high bandwidth, is attractive to manufacturers of interconnect systems within the computer I/O field such as the newly announced System I/O.

About TeraChannel

TeraChannel is a protocol-independent switch fabric silicon subsystem capable of scaling into the Terabit range. The product is realized in cost-effective 0.35um CMOS technology. TeraChannel employs proprietary high-speed, low-power synchronous serial links to achieve very high data density.

A 20Gb/s TeraChannel fabric card requires only three fabric chips and can reside on a printed circuit board measuring just 7 inches by 8 inches. First-generation TeraChannel technology provides up to 80Gb/s of full duplex non-blocking user bandwidth and requires only six chips per fabric card. A system that provides redundant operation requires two TeraChannel fabric cards and occupies only 1.6 square feet of real estate. This compares with as much as 6.0 square feet for a redundant 20Gb/s fabric from a leading competitor. The result is a 4X increase in throughput in 1/4 of the real estate.

The compact nature of TeraChannel is possible because of a very low-power, high-speed synchronous serial transceiver embedded within the chips, which enables high data throughput per fabric chip with low power consumption. In addition, backplane size and routing complexity are reduced compared with lower-speed alternatives, which results in less space and more cost-effective designs.

Performance and Features

TeraChannel was designed for protocol independence. As a sophisticated Layer 1 switch fabric, TeraChannel places a low overhead wrapper around units of data which are then transported between connected nodes with very low latency. The first-generation scheduling and arbitration design can fulfill 1.6 billion connective operations per second , where a connective operation is equivalent to scheduling a packet of data. To complement this performance, the chipset extends the QOS capabilities of many network processors by providing guaranteed bandwidth allocation on a per fabric flow basis. Each flow can be considered as a priority against which bandwidth guarantees can be given. An 80Gb/s TeraChannel supporting 32 network processors can provide each with 16 levels or classes of service, each of which can receive a guaranteed share of bandwidth. The novel design of the serial transceivers enables individual serial links to be grouped together and treated as a single fat pipe. This design feature paves the way for OC -- 192c capability. First-generation silicon supports pipes of up to OC -- 48c, which represent the major growth opportunity for the near term.

Pricing and Availability

TeraChannel will be available for sampling in Q4, with volume production scheduled in Q1-2000. Volume pricing starts at $300.

About Power X

Power X Limited is a privately owned fabless silicon vendor with headquarters in Manchester, England. The company was initially funded in 1996 to develop an efficient and cost effective high-performance interconnect technology capable of moving vast amounts of data between connected devices. The result is TeraChannel(TM), a low-latency, high-throughput switch fabric chip set that offers scaleable, high performance interconnect technology suitable for Gigabit Ethernet, ATM and multiprocessor interconnect applications. For more information, contact the company: px.uk.com; telephone 44-161-286-2000; email info@px.uk.com.

SOURCE Power X Limited

CO: Power X Limited

ST: England, Georgia

IN: TLS CPR

SU: PDT

09/09/1999 08:01 EDT prnewswire.com



To: A. Edwards who wrote (2804)9/9/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: The Ox  Respond to of 4710
 
Power X Formalizes Partner Program to Promote Interoperability Between Network

Mutual Customers Benefit From Proven Interoperation of Devices in a Real World

Environment

MANCHESTER, England and ATLANTA, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Power X Limited, the leading designer of high-performance switch fabric silicon subsystems, today launched the Power X Partners Program. Charter members, including Agere, C-Port, SiTera and Vitesse, worked closely with Power X to demonstrate interoperation of their respective devices with TeraChannel(TM), Power X's advanced switch fabric (see press release, September 9, 1999).

The Power X Partner Program was established to address the needs of system designers developing high-performance carrier and enterprise class data switching systems. The goals of the Power X Partner Program are to complement these efforts with a proven environmental context within which TeraChannel operates, and to demonstrate interoperation across logical, physical and electrical interfaces.

The Power X Partner Program is moving from a phase of co-verification and simulation to the creation of hardware reference platforms as silicon and advanced connectors from partners become available.

Phil Mercer, chief executive officer of Power X, said, "From a loose association of complementary technology partners that emerged from our establishment of the CSIX Consortium with XaQti, the Power X Partner Program has evolved into a vital tool for our joint customers. We are committed to demonstrating interoperability in a real-world environment so that our mutual customers can hit the ground running with our joint designs."

About TeraChannel

TeraChannel is a protocol-independent switch fabric silicon subsystem capable of scaling into the Terabit range. The product is realized in cost-effective 0.35um CMOS technology. TeraChannel employs high speed, low power synchronous serial links, developed by Power X, to achieve very high data density.

A 20Gb/s TeraChannel fabric card requires only three fabric chips and can reside on a printed circuit board measuring just 7 inches by 8 inches. First generation TeraChannel technology provides up to 80Gb/s of full duplex non-blocking user bandwidth and requires only six chips per fabric card. A system that provides the facility of redundant operation requires two TeraChannel fabric cards and occupies only 1.6 square feet of real estate. This compares with as much as 6.0 square feet for a redundant 20Gb/s fabric from a leading competitor. The result is a 4X increase in throughput in 1/4 of the real estate.

About Power X Partners

Agere, Inc. is a network processor company providing datacom and telecom equipment manufacturers with powerful multi-protocol solutions for complex Layer 2 through 7 processing. Agere was founded to develop and commercialize a proven, patented technology for the construction of wire-speed programmable routers, switches and network management equipment. Agere enables system vendors to provide carriers, service providers and enterprises with the ability to quickly offer new OC-12, OC-48, and Gigabit Ethernet services. Founded in 1998, Agere is a privately held company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Agere has attracted venture funding from TL Ventures and Austin Ventures. ( agere.com )

C-Port Corporation is a privately held startup company focused on radically improving the networking industry's ability to develop, deploy and provision communications services. Combining expertise in full-custom microprocessors, networking, and software development tools, C-Port's unique team offers the industry's first communications platform, called C-Ware(TM). Leveraging the C-5 Digital Communications Processor, the C-Ware platform enables vendors to develop high-speed networking products quickly and cost-effectively, shrinking their development cycles and freeing them to concentrate on delivering innovative features and services for their enterprise and service provider customers. ( cportcorp.com )

SiTera Incorporated, pioneering Intelligent Network Processing, accelerates the development of next generation high-speed networking equipment, allowing system developers to rapidly introduce intelligent network services for the enterprise, service provider and carrier edge markets. The SiTera Network Acceleration Platform includes intelligent network processors, SiTera's SoftNet library of networking software, and an integrated development suite. ( sitera.com )

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation is a leading provider of high bandwidth communication chips for driving the Internet. The Active-Flow Processors from the XaQti network processor group enable the construction of universal network system platforms for user-driven customization of networks and the rapid deployment of end-to-end IP services such as IP QoS, IPv6, IP multicast, IP Sec, Mobile IP, and Policy management. Vitesse is delivering Gigabit Ethernet, Fiber Channel, ATM and Packet Over SONET (PoS) chips and system design tools to leading networking OEMs today. ( vitesse.com )

About Power X

Power X Limited is a privately owned fabless silicon vendor with headquarters in Manchester, England. The company was initially funded in 1996 to develop an efficient and cost-effective high-performance interconnect technology capable of moving vast amounts of data between connected devices. The result is TeraChannel(TM), a low-latency, high-throughput switch fabric chip set that offers scalable, high performance interconnect technology suitable for Gigabit Ethernet, ATM and multiprocessor interconnect applications. For more information, contact the company: px.uk.com ; telephone +44 161 286 2000; email info@px.uk.com.

NOTE: Power X and TeraChannel are trademarks of Power X, Ltd. All other brands or products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners and should be treated as such.

SOURCE Power X Ltd.

CO: Power X Ltd.

ST: England

IN: CPR

SU: PDT

09/09/1999 08:01 EDT prnewswire.com