Agere shows off fast switching chip

Agere Systems Inc. on Monday announced a new switching chip for communications equipment that it says switches communication signals four times faster than competing products and delivers dramatic cost savings.

The new chip switches traffic at a minimum of 40Gbps, which is four times faster than competing single chip offerings, Agere said in a statement. The competition would need three or more chips to achieve the same performance, making competing products about 70 per cent more expensive, according to Agere.

Switching chips are a core part of communication equipment, moving signals through network systems. Agere is among the world’s largest switching chip vendors.

The chip, called the Protocol Independent Stand-Alone Switch (PI-40SAX), is targeted at manufacturers of routers, radio network controllers, digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs), and other communications hardware. Users of those products are, for the most part, telecommunications service providers.

Service providers can also save on real estate, power and operational costs, according to Agere. Communications equipment can be made much smaller because of the high throughput on a single chip, Agere of Allentown, Pa., said.

Zhongxing Telecom Equipment Corp. of China already is designing equipment around Agere’s new chip, Agere said.

The PI-40SAX supports multiple protocols, including asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells, time division multiplex (TDM), and Internet Protocol (IP) and costs US$520 when bought in production quantities of 10,000, Agere said.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now