MINDSPEED DEMONSTRATES FEASIBILITY OF XAUI 10 GIGABIT ETHERNET.

Mindspeed Technologies(TM), the Internet infrastructure business of Conexant Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT), has joined forces with Tyco Electronics, Blaze Network Products, and Alvesta to prove the feasibility of the 10 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI) technology.

In a test at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory in July, Mindspeed, Tyco, Blaze, and other vendors proved that their XAUI devices designed to the IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet specification were able to successfully communicate with each other, demonstrating the technical feasibility of XAUI.

As a result, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Task Force unanimously voted that the XAUI technology is feasible, paving the way for its inclusion in the emerging 10 Gigabit Ethernet standard.

XAUI is a low-pin-count electrical interface that consists of four differential channels called "lanes" operating at 3.125 Gbps each to provide an aggregate raw bandwidth of 12.5 Gbps, or 10 Gbps of Ethernet data. XAUI was defined to extend the optical module system interface reach inside a network element up to 20 inches through a standard FR-4 board and two connectors.

The strong market interest in a low-cost, high-bandwidth technology is leading to a strong inclination of multiple vendors to implement 10 Gigabit Ethernet in enterprise backbone and metropolitan area network routers and switches.

"Mindspeed is committed to making 10 Gigabit Ethernet a reality for our customers," said Elie Massabki, director of marketing with Mindspeed's Broadband Internetworking Systems business unit. "And the XAUI interoperability tests are a significant step in the development of a robust industry standard that will benefit everyone."

"We are very pleased that Mindspeed participated in this important interoperability test, demonstrating XAUI interoperability in a rigorous environment," said John D'Ambrosia, chair of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet XAUI Interoperability Group and manager of semiconductor relations for Tyco Electronics Corp.

"I believe that the acceptance of the technical feasibility of XAUI by the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Task Force will strengthen and help accelerate the development of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Standard."

In the test with Tyco Electronics performed at the UNH InterOperability Laboratory, the Mindspeed SkyRail(TM) SerDes transceiver successfully passed and recovered data at full speed through 27 inches of standard FR-4 backplane material and two Tyco Z-PACK HM-Zd connectors with no errors for a minimum of five minutes with other SerDes transceivers.

In additional testing performed at Mindspeed's laboratory, the SkyRail SerDes transceiver passed and recovered data at full speed through 30 inches of FR-4 and two Tyco Z-PACK HM-Zd connectors error-free for more than 20 minutes. These tests far exceeded the minimum IEEE standard requirement of being able to drive 20 inches of FR-4 and two connectors for a bit error rate of 10(-12)(exponent).

In similar interoperability tests with optical module vendors Blaze and Alvesta, Mindspeed's SkyRail was able to interface to the optical module and successfully transmit and receive data over up to 250 meters of fiber cable error-free.

Interoperability tests with the Blaze optical module were performed both at the UNH InterOperability Laboratory and independently at Mindspeed's laboratory, while the Alvesta optical module was tested at Mindspeed's lab.

"We are looking forward to working with Mindspeed Technologies by providing a 10 Gigabit Ethernet optical link," said Bill Wiedemann, vice president of marketing at Blaze Network Products. "The Mindspeed SkyRail SerDes transceiver's robustness and rich features coupled with Blaze's powerful, cost-effective optical device creates a seamless solution for our customers."

"The Mindspeed SkyRail SerDes is a great match with Alvesta's four-channel optical transceiver," said Robert Nalesnik, vice president of marketing at Alvesta. "Demonstrated interoperability and the ability to ship in volume are key ingredients to success in emerging 10 Gigabit applications."