Cortina Debuts First 40Gbps Ethernet MAC Aggregator IC

Cortina Systems, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, introduced an Ethernet MAC Aggregator chip with both 10GE LAN and WAN PHY integration to address enterprise and metro needs. The device features four 10GE MACs with Layer 5 classification capabilities to identify and protect critical traffic flows. This level of performance is enabled by the use of Interlaken uplink ports, an open industry standard created by Cortina and Cisco for inter-component connectivity. The Interlaken interface delivers up to 40Gbps uplink capacity for wire speed, 2:1 or 4:1 oversubscription ratio.



Other features include advanced classification and IPv6, MPLS support, multiple queues per port and deep buffer options, and advanced scheduler. It also incorporates subscriber functionality like per-VLAN policing, statistics, tagging, and classification to assist the delivery of metro Ethernet services.



The device integrates direct serial connectivity to XFP optical modules to eliminate power draw, cost and size from the separate serializer chips in use today. Cortina said this provides a complete 10GE solution for both wire speed blades optimized for performance as well as oversubscribed blades optimized for port density and cost.

http://www.cortina-systems.com