Intel has acquired West Bay Semiconductor, a privately-held developer of SONET/SDH silicon for metro core, edge and access optical networks, in a cash-for-assets transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed. West Bay's product line includes transport framers and data mappers that enable next-generation SONET/SDH and Ethernet over SONET/SDH (EoS) applications running at speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps. The company is also developing next-generation deeply channelized bandwidth management technologies that enable simultaneous, real-time processing of thousands of voice and data streams. Intel plans to combine West Bay's silicon architecture with its own 90-nanometer silicon manufacturing process. West Bay Semiconductor is based in Vancouver, Canada. Most of its employees will join the Intel Optical Products Group (OPG).
Intel's portfolio of 2.5 Gbps and lower networking chips already included network processors and physical layer devices. Intel said the acquisition of West Bay enables it to offer system vendors a single architecture and software platform to use in designing and building telecom equipment.
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- West Bay's announced product line includes a 48-channel, multi-protocol OC-48/STM-16 and OC-12/STM-4 virtual concatenation data framer. Through 48 separate logical channels, the device offers simultaneous, multi-protocol processing and mapping for TDM (voice and leased lines) and data transmission protocols (ATM, POS, GFP and LAPS). Key applications include Ethernet over SONET/SDH systems, multi-service provisioning platforms (MSPPs), routers, switches, access concentrators, add/drop multiplexers and DWDM systems. The device includes a 4 x 622 Mbps redundant serial telecom bus interface, enabling the device to be connected to redundant switch fabrics. It also provides SONET/SDH framing, full overhead processing, alarm detection, performance monitoring, line and path bit error rate monitoring (BERM) and STS-1/VC-3 timeslot interchange for traffic grooming and automatic protection switching.
West Bay Semiconductor is headed by Tino Varelas, one of the founders of PMC, which later became PMC-Sierra.
A list of Intel's previous network-related acquisitions: http://www.convergedigest.com/Mergers/mergersIntel.htm
