Transceiver speeds SAN development

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Mar 12, 2003

Marvell reckons it is leading the transition to next-generation storage area network solutions with the industry's most advanced 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel transceiver.

Marvell reckons it is leading the transition to next-generation storage area network (SAN) solutions with the industry's most advanced 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel transceiver.

The Alaska X 88X2012 transceiver is the industry's first single-chip switch-to-optics solution for connection between XGMII-based switches and serial optics, streamlining the design of high density, low power 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel systems.

Storage networks are poised to transition to 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel in order to meet the exponential increases in today's storage capacity and bandwidth requirements.

With the introduction of the Alaska X 88X2012 transceiver, Marvell is enabling the shift to 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel to provide five times the bandwidth of previous SAN technologies.

"By providing a single-chip solution for the connection from the switch to the optics, Marvell has delivered the level of integration required to enable rapid adoption of 10 Gigabit technology for storage networks", stated David Young, Marvell's General Manager of the Connectivity Business Group.

"The 88X2012 transceiver allows systems manufacturers to take advantage of the new small form factor serial 10 Gigabit-based optical modules such as XFP".

Young continued, "Now OEMs can now create highly optimised systems that eliminate the need for an additional device required to implement a XAUI interface, substantially reducing overall system power consumption and improving latency for enhanced system performance".

"Emulex and Marvell share the vision that 10 Gigabit per second data rate is the next generation standard for high-performance storage networking", stated Mike Smith, Emulex Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing.

"As Emulex continues to deliver the industry's leading SAN connectivity solutions at 2Gbit/s datarates, we are pleased to work closely with Marvell to develop next-generation Fibre Channel and iSCSI technologies for 10Gbit/s speeds".

The Alaska X 88X2012 device is currently sampling.

The company also offers complete customer reference designs including schematics and layout information to enable manufacturers to shorten their development cycle and accelerate time to market.