PLX Technology, a supplier of I/O interconnect silicon, agreed to acquire Teranetics, a start-up focused on 10GBASE-T silicon, for 7.4 million shares of PLX valued at approximately $27.6 million, cash of approximately $1.0 million and two promissory notes aggregating approximately $6.9 million. PLX will also assume or repay approximately $18 million of Teranetics corporate obligations, including indebtedness, transaction expenses incurred by Teranetics and cash bonuses payable to Teranetics employees. 
Teranetics' silicon solutions enable 10 Gigabit Ethernet over low-cost CAT6 and CAT6a copper cabling. The products are aimed at 10GE switch ports and server adapters. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in San Jose, California.
PLX Technology, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, is a publicly traded company focused on PCI-based silicon solutions including PCI Express (PCIe). PLX entered the consumer and small office storage market with the 2009 acquisition of Oxford Semiconductor.
PLX Technology said it believes PCI Express and 10G Ethernet will coexist as complementary technologies in the data center. PLX will leverage its unique leadership position, technology and IP with these two dominant IOs to bring out new architectures for the data centers of tomorrow and to tap further into the $2 billion Ethernet semiconductor market. These future solutions can take advantage of both technologies while leveraging the company's superior switching fabrics, high-speed analog, and SoC capabilities to increase performance, lower power consumption and reduce overall system costs.
http://www.teranetics.com
http://www.plxtech.com
- In April 2010, Teranetics introduced its third generation of 10GBASE-T PHYs implemented in 40nm technology. The small form factor and low power dissipation of the 40nm chips enable 10 GigE copper connections in high-density data center switches. They also pave the way for 10 GigE LAN-on-motherboard servers.
The Teranetics TN8044 is a quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY device designed for high-density, highly power efficient 10 GigE switches. The TN8022 (dual-port) and TN8020 (single-port) offer the power-efficiency required to enable 10GBASE-T adapter card designs.
Teranetics' new TN8000 family dissipates less than 4 watts per port at a full 100 meters, and as little as 2 watts per port in short reach mode. In addition, this third-generation, 40nm family continues Teranetics' support for triple rate Ethernet (100M/1G/10G). It will also offer support for the emerging Energy Efficient Ethernet standard (EEE, or IEEE 802.3az). Teranetics CTO and Chairman Sanjay Kasturia is the Editor in chief for the IEEE 802.3az committee developing the EEE standard.
Teranetics noted that its technology further reduces the external component count required to build systems with 10GBASE-T ports. The TN8000 family allows multiple PHYs to share reference clocks and power regulators, and also integrates an EMI filter that previously was built with external components on the PC board. Moreover, MDI test capabilities reduce manufacturing costs by increasing equipment manufacturers' final yield and decreasing test time.
