Marvell Introduces World's First Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Over Copper Transceiver.

Business/Hi-Tech Editors

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2000

Alaska(TM)II Gigabit PHY Delivers Four Billion Bits Per Second

Data Throughput, Accelerating the Deployment of

Gigabit Ethernet to the Desktop

Marvell (Nasdaq:MRVL) today announced the world's first dual port Gigabit Ethernet over copper transceiver, achieving a new industry milestone for integration.

The Alaska(TM) II device is the third member of Marvell's low power Alaska family of Gigabit Ethernet over copper transceivers, commonly referred to as PHYs.

The Alaska II device, fabricated using 0.18 micron CMOS process technology, combines two 1000BASE-T transceiver ports, providing manufacturers with the lowest power, highest port count density Gigabit Ethernet solution on the market today. Using advanced DSP-based mixed-signal processing and power management techniques, the Alaska II PHY achieves low power dissipation of 3.6 Watts. To optimize board layout, the Alaska II device is packaged in a 376-pin Ball Grid Array (BGA) package featuring a body width of only 27mm -- less than the width of two RJ45 connectors. The combination of low power and reduced PCB real estate enables manufacturers, for the first time, to achieve even higher port count density Gigabit Switches.

"With the industry's lowest power, highest port density dual port Gigabit Ethernet over copper transceiver, the Alaska II PHY, Marvell enables acceleration of the deployment of the Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop," said Weili Dai, Marvell's Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Data Communications Group. "The extension of Marvell's family of Gigabit Ethernet transceivers provides our customers with increased design flexibility and quicker time-to-market solutions."

The Alaska II PHY is the third product in Marvell's Alaska family of PHY products for the Gigabit Ethernet over copper market. In May, Marvell introduced its first Alaska chip, which consumes only 1.8 Watts, making it the industry's lowest power single channel Gigabit Ethernet PHY. With its low power and small package outline, the Alaska device enabled, for the first time, higher port densities for Gigabit Switches. In June, Marvell introduced its second Alaska device, the Alaska plus SERDES PHY, with built-in Serializer/Deserializer (SERDES), which enables a brand new market segment -- 1000BASE-T Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs) -- as well as offers a single-chip solution for the copper to fiber optic Gigabit media conversion market.

The family of Alaska PHY devices utilizes Marvell's proven DSP-based mixed signal processing core architecture to ensure robust performance and interoperability over a broad range of operating conditions. Marvell's core technology has also been incorporated in its six-port and eight-port Fast Ethernet transceiver products as well as its data storage product lines.

Alaska II Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver Product Information

By operating over the widely deployed installed base of Category 5 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) copper wiring, Marvell's Alaska II Gigabit Ethernet transceiver is designed to offer the network administrator an easy and inexpensive upgrade to a gigabit/sec (one billion bits per second) network. Each port of the Alaska II device operates at all three data rates defined by the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard- 1000 Mbps, 100Mbps and 10 Mbps. Product based on the Alaska II device, which implements the IEEE 802.3u compliant Auto-Negotiation function, will offer a true plug-and-play system enabling backward compatibility to the installed base of 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and 10 Mbps Ethernet networks.

Each port of Marvell's Alaska II Gigabit Ethernet transceiver provides IEEE 802.3 compliant Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII) and Media Independent Interface (MII), as well as the de facto standard 10-bit Interface (TBI), allowing for a direct connection to existing MAC/Switches. Marvell's Alaska II device also incorporates the Auto-MDI/MDIX function at all three speeds. The MDI/MDIX feature offers customers the benefit of end-to-end wiring tolerance and correction without the need for an external crossover cable.

Marvell's Alaska II Gigabit Ethernet transceiver uses DSP architecture, advanced mixed-signal processing and high speed digital circuit technology to implement digital adaptive equalization, echo cancellation, cross-talk cancellation, digital timing recovery, line driver support, encoders, and decoders. Marvell's high precision analog-to-digital converters result in robust performance in noisy environments with the added feature of low power dissipation. Marvell's mixed-signal and DSP design techniques result in high differential/integral linearity, high power supply noise rejection and low error rates.

Availability

Marvell's Alaska II Gigabit Ethernet transceiver, the 88E1020, is available today and is offered in a standard 376-pin BGA package.

About Marvell

Marvell is comprised of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MTGL) and its subsidiaries, Marvell Semiconductor Inc. (MSI), Marvell Asia Pte Ltd. (MAPL) and Marvell Japan K.K. (MJKK). On behalf of MTGL, MSI develops proprietary Communications Mixed-Signal Processing (CMSP) technology for increased information capacity of data storage and data communications products. MAPL is headquartered in Singapore and is responsible for Marvell's production and distribution operations. As used in this release, the terms "Company" and "Marvell" refer to the entire group of companies. The Company's proprietary CMSP technology combines custom digital signal processing algorithms to allow technology customers to store and move digital data on demand at high data access rates. MSI is headquartered at 645 Almanor Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif., 94085; phone: [phone], fax: [phone].