Crosspoint Switch Chipset Boosts Backplane Bandwidths

With the Cross-Stream chipset for high-bandwidth data backplanes, designers can implement synchronous serial backplanes that use fewer chips, maintain faster switching and configuration speeds, and are highly scalable. The alternative is switch ICs that use shared memory, asynchronous, or parallel switch fabrics. The set includes the VSC880, a 16 x 16, 2-Gb/s serial switch fabric IC, and the VSC870, the associated 2-Gb/s synchronous serial transceiver IC. The minimum configuration provides 32 Gb/s of data bandwidth and capability for up to 100,000,000 connections per second. In addition, the chipsets can operate in a fully synchronous configuration of parallel chipsets, making multiple-hundred-gigabit switches cost-effective and easier to design, it's claimed. The chips are suited for most datacomm switch equipment applications, including Gigabit Ethernet, ATM, IP and Fibre Channel.