Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:VT SS), a provider of complete chipset solutions for high-bandwidth communications, and Nortel Networks , a provider of optical transport equipment, announced an agreement to promote resilient packet ring solutions aimed to address the demands for a more cost effective, efficient, and scalable means of robustly transporting higher quality data services in the metropolitan network. Through this agreement, Vitesse will use its products in conjunction with Nortel Networks OPTera Packet Edge resilient packet ring technology to develop complete 2.5Gb/s and 10Gb/s chipset platforms, providing better redundancy and higher quality of service.
The complete platform will include: the VSC9129, a dual 2.5Gb/s programmable resilient packet ring media access controller; the VSC9142, an OC-48c packet/cell framer with integrated PHY; the IQ2000, a fully programmable 2.5Gb/s network processor unit (NPU); and Vitesse's high-performance packet/cell switching product.
The VSC9129 contains two identical interfaces associated with each direction of a dual counter-rotating ring. Packets are received from a ring on the receiving ring interface and transmitted onto the ring through the transmitting ring interface. Packets can be extracted and injected through the corresponding add and drop interfaces. The embedded processor of the VSC9129 packet ring access controller and the IQ2000 network processor allow the user to implement custom derivatives of a packet ring solution. This is essential for 2.5Gb/s and 10Gb/s solution strategies since the packet ring protocol before the IEEE 802.17 Working Group has yet to be solidified and further development is expected.
The resilient packet ring technology implemented on Nortel Networks OPTera Packet Edge System has been submitted to the IEEE 802.17 Working Group as a model of packet-oriented, shared-ring technology with a proven track record in metropolitan networks. Nortel Networks and Vitesse, as well as service providers, equipment vendors, and chip manufacturers, are participating to create a standard for this new emerging technology. In addition, both Nortel Networks and Vitesse are actively involved in the Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) Alliance along with other vendors to promote and advocate this packet ring technology and its objectives for standardization.
Vitesse's 2.5Gb/s Resilient Packet Ring chipset will be available in third quarter 2001. With the addition of the VSC9129 to its portfolio of OC-48 devices, Vitesse will provide a complete 2.5Gb/s resilient packet ring line card solution, from fiber to switch core. A joint development on a next generation 10Gb/s platform is already underway.
About Vitesse:
Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation is a designer and supplier
of innovative, high performance semiconductors utilizing processes for the manufacturers of next generation DWDM and optical communications equipment. For more information, visit www.vitesse.com.