SEEQ Technology Announces Availability of Fast Ethernet Quad PHY With MII and RMII.

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 1998--

Quad PHY is First to Offer 3.3volt Functionality With MII and RMII 

Interoperability for Increased Port Ensity and Reduced System Cost

SEEQ Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:SEEQ), the leading independent developer of Ethernet MAC controller and PHY transceiver IC technology, today announced that it is rolling out a new four-port Fast Ethernet transceiver that will offer customers an unparalleled combination of simplicity, compact size and functionality.

SEEQ said it is receiving extremely positive feedback from customers as it samples the 10/100 Mbps TX/FX PHY transceiver known as the SEEQ QQ84220. It is now shipping initial production of the product.

The QQ84220 is the first quad PHY to offer user selectable option to configure the controller to either the original standard Media Independent Interface (MII) or the new Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII) standard. In the RMII configuration, the QQ84220 can eliminate up to 240 PCB interconnect traces per typical 24 port system design. In addition, the device provides superior design flexibility by including independently selectable TX (copper cable) and FX (fiber cable) capability on all four ports, eliminating the need for separate PHY devices in mixed-media environments.

Jeremey Donovan, a semiconductor analyst with Dataquest, said that the RMII-capable quad PHY is an important breakthrough for SEEQ. "By initially combining RMII with MII, SEEQ allows users to migrate to the new RMII standard at their own pace," he said. "RMII should enjoy healthy penetration in the Ethernet switch and repeater markets by the fourth quarter of 1998. By rolling out their RMII-capable quad PHY at this time, SEEQ should be well positioned to take advantage of this trend."

Bill Weir, SEEQ's director of worldwide marketing, said the company is seeing "tremendous interest" in the quad PHY from a number of our networking customers who have incorporated the RMII feature into their ASIC silicon. "They want to take early advantage of the PCB interconnect benefits that RMII offers, as well as reduced power requirements with our 3.3 volt functionality," Weir said. "As the first quad PHY to provide these combined features, the QQ84220 offers our customers a superior multiport PHY solution."

Key performance features of the new QQ84220 quad PHY include fully integrated and configurable TX, FX or 10 Base-T capability per-port and a full-featured register set of user programmable options, including power-down mode. The device is also hardware configurable for lower-cost applications without software control capability.

In addition, the 3.3 volt low-power operation with five-volt tolerant I/O's reduces system power to less than two watts total power dissipation. Other features include a flow control that eases the common congestion problems plaguing fast Ethernet networks today. When flow control is asserted under heavy traffic conditions, the device automatically transmits a JAM packet that will cause the remote unit to back off, allowing the host the much-needed time to clear its buffers.

The 84220 fully meets or exceeds all the requirements of the latest IEEE 802.3, 10 Base-T, 100 Base-TX and 100 Base FX specifications. The QQ84220 can automatically configure itself for half or full duplex operation on a per channel basis using the on-chip auto-negotiation algorithm. Each port has four LED's which can be programmed from a choice of seven different event options, including Far End Fault (FX mode), to be in a "normally on," "normally off," or "blinking" mode.

The chips also provide a fully configurable hardware and software status interrupt feature that allows designers to select from 11 different event options. Other useful features include output tri-state and five-bit (symbol) interface options on each port for repeater applications.

In addition to transmitter power-down, the user can program transmit output levels to adjust the output template for different loading conditions. Transformer vendor pinouts are available for both stacked and in-line RJ45 connector configurations. A 1:1 transformer ratio is used for both transmit and receive functions, and a list of 84220 specific transformer vendors is included in the datasheet. All SEEQ transceiver products are designed to include killer packet and baseline wander protection capability.

"The QQ84220 reflects the performance robustness documented on SEEQ's highly acclaimed QQ80220 and QQ80221 single channel TX 10/100 PHY transceivers," said James Middleton, SEEQ's vice president for operations. "The use of standard manufacturing processes, coupled with SEEQ's proprietary mixed signal sub-micron design technology for high performance analog circuitry, ensures consistent yield and performance from part to part, wafer to wafer, lot to lot and fab to fab, assuring an uninterrupted supply at virtually any volume."

When asked whether or not SEEQ is planning a Hex PHY, Robert Frostholm, SEEQ's vice president for sales and marketing, said, "We feel that the 10K piece price of this product, which is just $14, is already a better price per port than published Hex Phy prices. Beyond that, SEEQ is pursuing significantly higher levels of integration to achieve even lower per port pricing."

The SEEQ QQ84220 10/100 TX/FX Quad Phy is available in a 160 pin LQFP package. Samples along with TX or FX specific evaluation boards are available now as well as a complete design book. The datasheet is available for downloading in .pdf format on the SEEQ website at www.seeq.com. SEEQ offers complete applications engineering services, and maintains sales offices and support worldwide. For more information about the SEEQ 84220, or for the name of the closest SEEQ sales office, phone [phone], fax [phone], or email SEEQ via the website.

SEEQ Technology Inc. is a leading manufacturer of data communications semiconductor products. Headquartered in Fremont, California, the company is a LAN pioneer, having introduced the first integrated Ethernet controller in 1982. SEEQ's product families include Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (100Base-T), and ATM components. SEEQ leads the Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) market, and offers the broadest line of Fast Ethernet MACs and PHYs in the industry.

The company's Ethernet solutions are used in industry-leading applications including network interface cards, hubs/bridges/routers, switches, and test equipment. SEEQ is a contributing member of the IEEE Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet committees, and the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance (GEA).

For further information about SEEQ and its products, please visit the company's World Wide Web site at www.seeq.com, or phone [phone].