Accelerant Transceiver Upgrades Existing Low Cost FR4 Backplanes from 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s With Reliability and Low Power.

Business Editors

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 2003

Intelligent Silicon Technology Validated in 60+ Systems with 1e-18

Bit Error Rate;

Adaptive Equalization Unlocks Hidden Bandwidth to Enable System

Upgrades

Accelerant Networks today announced availability of its AN6425 6.25 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) quad backplane transceiver, the first in its new AN6000 family of low power (less than 1 Watt), high speed SERDES (Serializer-Deserializer) transceiver products.

The AN6425 is targeted for the upgrade of existing network, server and storage systems to 6.25 Gb/s data rates and above. The single-chip device is the industry's most efficient backplane transceiver solution, combining all of the elements needed to unlock hidden bandwidth in the backplanes of currently-deployed systems: increased speed, low power, data rate flexibility and reliability.

Today's backplane data rates of 622 Megabits per second (Mb/s) to 3.125 Gb/s have traditionally been a bottleneck, limiting the amount of bandwidth existing systems can support. Accelerant has proven that hidden, useable bandwidth exists in these deployed backplanes through actual transceiver testing at up to 10 fold faster rates on more than 60 systems.

In addition to increased performance, results of these tests have clearly demonstrated the ability of the single-chip AN6425 to deliver breakthrough reliability levels, with Bit Error Rates (BER) of better than 1e-18 across the entire range of 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s over existing backplanes. This reliability rating is orders of magnitude better than the industry's typical BER specification of 1e-12.

"Networking, storage and server system manufacturers all share the same desire to offer end customers enhanced port density and bandwidth to lower overall cost per bit," said Bill Hoppin, vice president of marketing for Accelerant Networks. "With fewer end customers implementing wholesale changes of installed chassis, system developers are looking for cost-effective ways to upgrade their customers' existing equipment. We believe our focus on reliable high speed transmission over existing low cost interconnects, as opposed to depending on expensive new materials and techniques, paves the way for enhanced bandwidth where systems developers need it most: in the installed base of equipment."

"Accelerant's 10 Gb/s SERDES technology works great over our broadband backplanes," said John Webley, CEO of Turin Networks Inc. "Increased backplane link speeds support higher bandwidth blades, which means higher port densities and lower costs for our MSPP and cross connect (DACS) customers. The distributed fabric architecture, used in Turin's Traverse platforms, makes it possible to add blades that use higher speed backplane links without obsoleting deployed blades or requiring upgrades to any common equipment."

Based on Accelerant's intelligent silicon technology, the device uses adaptive equalization to unlock hidden bandwidth in existing, low cost FR4 backplanes common to network, server and storage equipment currently installed worldwide. Adaptive equalization compensates for the loss and inter-symbol interference of older, less optimal backplane interconnects and enables signal transmission up to ten times faster than previously possible. Using Accelerant's technology, very low bit error rates are achieved with minimal power consumption and maintained over temperature and humidity.

"Rather than developing new systems, OEMs are focusing on extending the life of existing systems," said Jag Bolaria of the Linley Group. "Accelerant offers developers the ability to operate at very high data rates over installed backplane interconnects with high reliability and low power consumption. Consequently, system developers can offer their customers greater bandwidth while staying within power and thermal requirements of the existing chassis. Because these upgrades consist of changes to switch and line cards only, the system does not have to be taken off line."

Accelerant Technology

Accelerant's intelligent silicon technology dynamically senses the inter-symbol interference of each backplane interconnect, then uses continuous feedback to adjust equalization for optimum performance and most efficient use of power. Accelerant is unique in its ability to combine this with both traditional binary signaling as well as proven technology leadership in multilevel signaling (Pulse Amplitude Modulation or PAM-4) packing two bits per clock cycle to double the data density. Its binary signaling modes have been carefully optimized to enhance robust interoperability with other SERDES devices.

Typical binary backplane transceivers operate with up to 25 percent of encoding overhead. This hampers the usable data rate to 75 percent of the total backplane speed and requires the transceiver to understand individual coding protocols. Accelerant's technology eliminates the overhead (zero percent) independent of protocol, enabling robust 100 percent utilization of the backplane speed.

The AN6000 series also features a per-channel built-in programmable Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT), an internal scope, and Built In Self Test (BIST) for each backplane interconnect comparable with over $60,000 of external test equipment. This gives system developers the high level of reliability validation required at these increased data rates, and highlights the inherent signal integrity of the technology.

Accelerant achieves its extremely low power consumption of less than 1 W for a quad 6.25 Gb/s backplane transceiver through optimized adaptive equalizers and low power circuit implementation. Low power facilitates use in dense circuit boards enabling system developers to remain within the fixed thermal budget defined by existing chassis design. The low power AN6000 cores, now offered by Agere Systems through a previously announced partnership with Accelerant, are ideal for integration onto high port count ASICs.

Pricing and Availability

The AN6425 is a 17mm X 17mm low cost plastic BGA device consuming less than 1 W of power. The device is sampling now and is priced at $90 per unit in volume.

About Accelerant

Accelerant Networks is a fabless semiconductor company delivering intelligent silicon transceivers that unlock new levels of bandwidth from low-cost interconnects such as backplanes and cables used commonly in the network, storage and server markets. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, Ore., with sales and application offices in Silicon Valley as well as a nationwide network of sales representatives. For more information visit Accelerant on the web at www.accelerant.net.