AMCC Announces Serial Backplane Interconnect Strategy for Datacom Switches.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 1998--

Highly integrated serial backplane solution includes first CMOS 

quad-channel serial backplane transceiver, advanced crosspoint

switches and wide selection of high-speed port transceivers

Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ:AMCC) today announced an advanced serial backplane interconnect solution for network switches that supports data transfer rates up to 1.30 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps). To speed time to market and simplify design of backplanes in high speed, chassis-based switches for Gigabit Ethernet, ATM, broadcast distribution, Fibre Channel and SONET applications, AMCC has created a standardized backplane solution. It includes the new family of highly integrated serial backplane transceivers, a family of application specific crosspoint switches, and a wide selection of port transceivers, as shown in Figure 1.

In conjunction, AMCC introduced the first two serial backplane transceivers in the family. The S2064 quad-channel serial backplane transceiver is the industry's first multi-channel CMOS transceiver; the solution integrates four serial backplane transceivers in a single chip with 8-bit parallel interfaces, a single transmit phase-locked loop (PLL) and four receive PLLs. On-chip 8B/10B encoding and decoding in both the quad- and single-channel devices ensure DC balanced data transmission over the backplane. These backplane transceivers perform parallel-to-serial and serial-to-parallel conversion, encoding/decoding functions and framing functions that support hot-swappable backplane interconnections. AMCC is also offering a single-channel alternative, the S2061.

A backplane in a network switch serves as the communication port between multiple cards in the chassis system. The demand for backplane capacity is accelerating, in part because collapsible backbone architectures are increasing the number of LAN channels in the backplane. In addition, there is a strong demand for an increased number of nodes and higher bandwidth per node.

Until now, most systems have used a parallel bus architecture for the backplane. However, increasing bandwidth demands have reached a point where the parallel bus width is too wide to be cost effective and reliable. Limitations of parallel backplanes include shared bandwidth, impedance discontinuities, a high connector pin count, and a requirement for high power bus drivers. Furthermore, hot plugging has been difficult to achieve as parallel backplanes have become more complex.

"The only viable alternative is a serial backplane," said Jack Basi, AMCC's director of marketing for datacom and computer products. "We have created an advanced backplane infrastructure for ay, it overcomes the parallel backplane distancer bipolar crosspoint switches and port transceiv industry.

Crosspoint Switches

To complement the serial backplane transceivers, AMCC offers a bipolar 1.5 Gbps 33x32 differential crosspoint switch with full unicast, multicast and broadcast capabilities. The single-chip S2028 is the fastest multifunction switch chip available today, and incorporates several unique features that support fast reconfiguration and more flexible multicast and broadcast modes. The S2028 consists of 32 differential PECL input signal pairs that can be connected to any or all of its 32 differential PECL output signal pairs. Each of the differential output drivers can also be individually configured to gate in a broadcast channel using the 33rd input. This channel can be used as a default broadcast channel, or to supply signals such as a clock to simplify interface design. The switch chip supports 100MHz unicast (one input to one output), multicast (one input to multiple outputs or multiple inputs to multiple outputs), and broadcast modes (one input to all outputs). It can be selectively reconfigured one output channel at a time in unicast mode, 16 output channels at a time in multicast mode, and all 32 output channels simultaneously in broadcast mode. AMCC also offers 1.5-Gbps 16x16 and 32x32 differential crosspoint switches, and an 800-Mbps 32x32 crosspoint switch.

Port Transceivers

To complete the backplane interconnect solution, AMCC offers a broad portfolio of port transceivers to support Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and ATM applications. The S205X family of single-chip, dual-frequency Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel transceivers is available to meet a wide range of transceiver design requirements in the 1.0 to 1.25-Gbps range. In addition, AMCC recently introduced the industry's first +3.3V single-chip transceivers with integrated clock and data recovery (CDR) that support 622-Mbps Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) OC-12 and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) STM-4 digital data transmission standards. The S303X family offers a selection of ATM port transceivers to meet various design requirements.

The components available in AMCC's serial backplane interconnect solution, including representative products from the company's broad portfolio of transceivers, are summarized in Table 1.

AMCC is a premier supplier of high-bandwidth silicon connectivity for the world's communication infrastructure. The Company utilizes its world class expertise in mixed-signal design and multiple silicon process technologies to provide high performance silicon solutions for SONET, ATM, Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel markets. AMCC's core technologies also address ATE and high-speed computing needs. AMCC's corporate headquarters and wafer fabrication facilities are located in San Diego, Calif. Sales and consulting engineering offices are located throughout the world. For further information regarding AMCC and its products, write: Marketing Communication Department, AMCC, 6290 Sequence Drive, San Diego, Calif. 92121-4358; or call 1-800-755-AMCC (1-800-755-2622) or [phone]; or fax [phone]; or email [e-mail]; or visit our website at http://www.amcc.com. -0-

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release are forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward looking statements, including such factors as the rescheduling or cancellation of orders by customers; fluctuations in the timing and amount of customer requests for product shipments; fluctuations in manufacturing yields and inventory levels; changes in product mix; the Company's ability to introduce new products and technologies on a timely basis; the introduction of products and technologies by the Company's competitors; the availability of external foundry capacity, purchase parts, and raw materials; competitive pressures on selling prices, the timing of investments in research and development; market acceptance of the Company's and its customer's products; the timing of depreciation and other expenses to be incurred by the Company in connection with the expansion of its existing manufacturing facility and in connection with its proposed new manufacturing facility; the timing and amount of recruiting and relocation expenses, prototyping costs and promotional expenses; costs asn, litigation relating to the use of ownership of intellectual property; costs associated with compliance with applicable environmental regulation; general semiconductor industry conditions; and general economic conditions, including, but not limited to, economic conditions in Asia and the risk factors that are detailed in the Final Prospectus relating to the recent initial public offering of the Companys current public offering, and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. -0-ademark of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation 

CONTACT: Applied Micro Circuits

[e-mail]

EYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PRODUCT TRAD URL: http://www