Vitesse Samples Next Gen Ethernet Switching Silicon for 802.11ac Networks

Vitesse Semiconductor unveiled its next generation SparX-IV Ethernet switching silicon optimized for 802.11ac WLAN enterprise deployments.

The new SparX-IV Ethernet switches are designed for Gigabit Wi-Fi access and aggregation, and are also suited for industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

The new 802.11ac access point deployments enable WLAN connections in the gigabit range.  However, to ensure this performance, uplinks and aggregation switches must be upgraded as well. Vitesse said its new SparX-IV Ethernet switches were designed to answer this need by providing the ability to aggregate from 8 to 24 access ports at 2.5 Gbps. Significantly, the switch design also adds Layer 3 routing and IEEE 1588 timing and synchronization capabilities.

“Wave 2 .11ac deployments will be all about 2.5G uplinks,” said Larry O’Connell, product marketing director for Vitesse. “There’s a sizeable price and power penalty by going to 10G uplinks, requiring Enterprises to install new cabling to enable the higher total bandwidth. Vitesse’s new SparX-IV Ethernet switch family optimizes the aggregation switch bandwidth and port counts to actual deployment scenarios."

Some SparX-IV highlights.

• High Density Port Configurations: The SparX-IV Ethernet switches can be configured based on connectivity needs for 1G or 2.5G Ethernet uplinks;

• Sophisticated Traffic Classification: Featuring a highly optimized TCAM architecture with more classification capabilities than the competition, the SparX-IV family readily enables

• Expanded Routing & Layer 3 Support: With added Layer 3 routing support, the SparX-IV Ethernet switches offer larger routing tables than comparable options, giving customers flexibility in Quality of Service (QoS) and IPv4/IPv6 routes; and

• Ruggedized For Industrial Environments: The SparX-IV family is industrial-hardened for rugged environments: industrial temperature range support for operating temperatures of -40°C to 125°C; VeriTimeTM IEEE 1588 timing and synchronization; and hardware-based

The SparX-IV family includes a range of configurations and is sampling now.

http://www.vitesse.com/gigabit-wifi