Crosspoint Switch ICs Simplify High-Density Telecomm System Design

A new class of CMOS crosspoint switch devices is said to offer a unique combination of high port density, low power consumption, and fast configuration to designers of telecomm and datacomm systems. The first of these SRAM-based, in-system programmable devices, the OCX160 crosspoint switch, delivers 667 Mb/s per port performance in an 80 x 80 I/O configuration. This makes the new crosspoint switch a strong candidate for use in SONET/SDH and DWDM optical networking equipment running at OC-12 speeds.
The device supports both LVDS and LVPECL I/O standards and employs mainstream CMOS technology that operates at 2.5V and 3.3V, mininmizing power consumption and heat dissipation. With the IC, users are afforded two programming options: the RapidConfigure parallel interface and a serial JTAG interface. Packaged in a 420-pin BGA, the IC costs $144 each/1,000.