Ample Communications' Eagle MAC Provides Access Devices with Guaranteed Delivery of Video Streaming for IPTV; Significantly Increases the Cost-Efficiency of the Total Networking Solution.

FREMONT, Calif. -- Ample Communications, a leading provider of communications silicon for wireline network systems, today announced that its newest MAC, Eagle, provides access devices with guaranteed delivery of video streaming for IPTV. This streaming capability, combined with Eagle's superior oversubscription logic and traffic management capabilities, enables system vendors to provide equipment that efficiently supports video traffic as well as guarantees that high priority traffic gets through, which is critical in cases of congestion in statistically multiplexed Ethernet networks.

Today, high bandwidth demands of HDTV and DVD quality video streams can overwhelm the capabilities of Enterprise and Metro access devices. Eagle, Ample's next-generation Ethernet MAC, integrates multicast and broadcast support, offloading the streaming media workload from packet processors. This significantly increases network equipment performance. With its ability to support up to 24 Gbits of traffic, Eagle more than doubles the efficiency of NPU architectures.

Eagle is specifically targeted for 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet aggregation applications in Ethernet switching, routing, Ethernet over SONET, security appliances storage networks and Metro Ethernet. The IC also features advanced logic, such as per-port traffic shapers and policers, and virtual on-chip RAM. Eagle is available as 12 and 24 port devices and integrates SerDes, MAC, classification and congestion management logic with on-chip packet memory.

"Eagle has proven to be extremely valuable for delivery of high bandwidth video such as HDTV and IPTV," said Mat Steinberg, vice president of business development for Ample Communications. "By implementing this next-generation Ethernet technology, Eagle's cost-effective and high performance chip architecture provides our customers with significant performance and cost benefits."

With the addition of Eagle, Ample now carries the broadest Ethernet MAC aggregation product portfolio on the market and spans the entire range of speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps with line interfaces from RGMII, SGMII/SerDes to XAUI and XFI. This portfolio includes Harrier, which has shipments of well over 550,000 ports, and Redhawk, the industry's first 2-port 10 GE MAC with multiprotocol congestion management and embedded XFI SerDes.

The Eagle MAC is available today. Eagle-12, part number A2521, and Eagle-24, part number A2520, are packaged in 31x31mm FCBGA.

About Ample Communications

Ample Communications is a leading supplier of high-speed Ethernet and SONET silicon for enterprise and metropolitan area network equipment OEMs. With wide customer acceptance at Tier 1 and Tier 2 OEMs, Ample has established itself as both a technology and a market share leader with its SONET and Ethernet silicon.

Ample Communications is located in Fremont, Calif., with additional development facilities in Sacramento, Calif. and in Bangalore, India. More information is available on the Web at www.amplecomm.com.