SEPTEMBER 18, 2006 -- Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (AMCC; search for AMCC) has announced availability of the QT2025, a PHY IC for 10GBase-LRM (search for 10GBase-LRM) applications. While the IEEE802.3aq 10GBase-LRM standard specifies 220 m as the target fiber length, the QT2025 is designed to operate over 300 m of FDDI-grade fiber, which increases the backbone coverage by close to 20 percent.
"Intermediate-reach 10GbE links are becoming critical, but the technology is still too expensive," said Mitch Kahn, AMCC vice president of marketing, transport business unit. "Robust and cost-effective LRM solutions will be key drivers of the adoption of 10GbE in the corporate backbone and enterprise market. The QT2025 addresses these requirements with its high-performance, high-integration architecture."
Last month AMCC announced the QT2035S, a 10G Ethernet PHY designed for the emerging small form factor SFP+ module market. According to Kahn, "In the long term, enterprise switches and NIC cards will move towards solutions based on SFP+. However, an estimated 80 percent of installed equipment is still utilizing the larger XENPAK, XPAK, and X2 modules, and this trend is expected to continue over the next 12 to 18 months. Our new QT2025 device is optimized for this market."
The QT2025 integrates 10Gbit/sec serial-to-XAUI Ethernet processing with high-performance electronic dispersion compensation (EDC). The EDC engine uses a novel architecture that optimizes the link performance to different fiber impulse responses and adapts to modal changes in the fiber. According to Marika Herod, a product manager at AMCC, the EDC technology in the QT2025 is similar to that of the QT2035, although not identical. The SFP+ application requires a more robust approach, she explains.
The PHY can be field upgraded via a built-in microprocessor to support standards changes, new standards, or to optimize performance. The device consumes 1.2 W � more than a PHY without EDC, but less than the combined power consumption of a typical PHY and an EDC chip.
The QT2025 is sampling now to at least one customer. Herod predicts that the product will reach production in the first half of next year, likely either late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter.
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