Switch IC Simplifies Fast Ethernet Design

The AL101 and AL116 chips are said to be the industry's first Fast Ethernet switch ICs to use the Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII). The interface reduces the number of pins required to connect such ICs to physical-layer transceivers, simplifing switch designs and reducing board space and overall cost.The AL101 connects to RMII PHY chips that use six pins instead of the customary 16 pins for the interface, while the AL116 supports both RMII and MII interfaces. Both contain all of the digital circuits needed to design an eight-port, 100/10-Mbps, full-duplex Fast Ethernet switch.