Transceiver solves real world networking problems

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 17, 2002

National Semiconductor reckons its new ultra-low power Gigabit Ethernet physical layer transceiver provides a compelling solution for enterprise switches and routers.

National Semiconductor reckons its new ultra-low power Gigabit Ethernet physical layer transceiver provides a compelling solution for enterprise switches and routers.

Leveraging its analogue expertise and internal manufacturing, National Semiconductor's new GigPhyter V device delivers gigabit per second performance, low power consumption and a low unit price to meet real world networking needs.

National Semiconductor has a twenty-year history of Ethernet innovation.

This new device, building on this legacy, is the company's fifth-generation gigabit physical layer (PHY) device with field-proven architecture and robust performance.

A fully featured single channel Ethernet PHY supporting 10BaseT, 100BaseTX and 1000BaseT Ethernet protocols, the GigPhyter V device ensures a cost effective, smooth migration path from existing fast Ethernet applications.

The GigPhyter V device's innovative design has achieved a dramatically reduced die size compared to traditional architectures.

For example, the GigPhyter V device's analogue front end processing minimises the databus width needed throughout the chip while maximising dynamic range.

This in turn reduces the complexity and size of the digital signal processing required.

In addition, through the use of advanced power management techniques, the GigPhyter V device typically consumes only 1.1W, and hence does not need expensive thermally enhanced packaging.

National's GigPhyter V device is designed for easy implementation of 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet LANs.

It interfaces directly to twisted-pair media via an external transformer.

The device also interfaces directly to the media access controller (MAC) layer through the IEEE802.3u Standard Media Independent Interface (MII) and the IEEE 802.3z Gigabit GMII.

The cable length performance exceeds IEEE requirements to provide headroom and tolerance for lower quality network cable.

"The system architecture of National Semiconductor's GigPhyter V device optimises the tradeoffs of analogue versus digital implementation, allowing us to offer the best mix of price, power and performance", said Alan Hutton, marketing manager of the wired communications division at National in Europe.

"Our analogue and manufacturing expertise, coupled with our networking heritage, is a key differentiator in the enterprise networking market, enabling us to provide the best value to our customers".

The GigPhyter V device features IEEE802.3u auto-negotiation and parallel detection for seamless plug-and-play configuration.

It requires only two power supplies, 1.8V for core and analogue and 2.5V for analogue and I/O.

Future Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices from National Semiconductor will be based on the GigPhyter V design.

National Semiconductor's DP83865 GigPhyter V Ethernet physical layer transceiver in a 128-pin PQFP package is currently sampling and evaluation boards are also available today.

The device is priced at less than $10.00 each in 10,000 units.