Fast Ethernet switches add quality of service

The ZL 50418 family of Ethernet switching chips comprises four devices that cost-effectively aggregate 16 ports of Fast Ethernet traffic.

Zarlink Semiconductor has expanded its portfolio of high-quality Ethernet switching chips with the ZLTM 50418 family of four devices that cost-effectively aggregate 16 ports of Fast Ethernet traffic.

Leading networking companies in Asia, Europe and North America are already using the ZL50418 family for metro access equipment, including media gateways, edge routers, and passive optical networks.

The chips are also targeted for VDSL digital subscriber line access multiplexers and LAN workgroup switches.

Zarlink's ZL50418 chips deliver advanced QoS features that allow carriers to cost-effectively tailor services to customer needs.

With the ZL50418 family, carriers can provision and manage up to eight different classes of network traffic, including time-sensitive voice and video.

The chips switch this traffic at wire speed over up to 16 Fast Ethernet (10/100Mbit/s) and two Gigabit Ethernet nonblocking ports.

To support these chips, Zarlink also launched a compact version of its Ethernet management software suite, which allows designers to quickly build complete Layer 2 networking solutions.

This economical package is designed for backplane applications that require only a subset of the drivers and protocols offered in the full suite.

"There is solid market demand for cost-effective, 16-port Ethernet switches with excellent QoS capabilities", said Paul Vu, Product Line Marketing Manager, Packet Switching, Zarlink Semiconductor.

"Together with our compact management software and system reference design, our chips make it easier for customers to quickly develop networking support for widely deployed 16-port applications".

With their advanced QoS capabilities, Zarlink's ZL50418 Ethernet chips are ideal for handling time-sensitive voice and video traffic in convergent networks.

For example, when combined with Zarlink's MT90880/1/2/3 packet processors, the switches allow profitable TDM access services, such as T1/E1 leased lines, to be delivered with carrier-grade quality over Ethernet links.

Each ZL50418 port has up to eight output queues, which service providers can program to differentiate traffic based on its priority level.

The queues map to and provide full support for the eight traffic classes in the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) Differentiated Services Set.

This includes the network management, expedited forwarding, assured forwarding, and best effort classes.

The ZL50418 family uses scheduling algorithms to minimise the output delay of queued traffic.

The algorithms manage a combination of prioritisation schemes, such as delay bound scheduling, weighted fair queuing, and strict priority.

Delay bound scheduling guarantees output delays of less than 160us in heavily congested conditions.

Congestion management is provided using weighted random early detection.

Zarlink's ZL50418 switches meet a wide range of requirements for Ethernet aggregation equipment.

The ZL50417/418 integrate 16 Fast Ethernet ports with two Gigabit Ethernet ports to deliver nonblocking throughput at a maximum 7.2Gbit/s.

These switches forward up to 10.712Mpacket/s at wire speed.

The ZL50415/416 devices have 16 Fast Ethernet ports, achieve nonblocking throughput of up to 3.2Gbit/s, and forward up to 4.762Mpacket/s at wire speed.

The Gigabit ports provide Layer 2 forwarding and Layer 3/4 classification, and can be programmed to support a mix of Fast Ethernet ports.

The Gigabit ports also feature data rate control, which allows service providers to tailor bandwidth-based services to individual customers.

To help customers speed their time-to-market, Zarlink's Ethernet switches are supported by a comprehensive system reference design.

The design provides a platform for multiple applications, including managed and unmanaged configurations with Gigabit uplinks over copper or fibre.

Zarlink's ZL50418 family complements the company's successful 24-port Fast Ethernet MVTX2600 line, and its MVTX2800 family of Gigabit Ethernet switching chips.

Zarlink's ZL50418 family is in volume production.

The devices are designed in 0.25-micron CMOS and offered in 553-pin BGA packages.

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