HyperTransport bridge speeds network cards

PLX's HyperTransport bridging device is providing the I/O interconnect to SBE's powerful new Gigabit Ethernet line of products.

PLX's HyperTransport bridging device is providing the I/O interconnect to SBE's powerful new Gigabit Ethernet line of products.

The SBE Gigabit Ethernet boards enabled with the PLX PowerDrive HT7520 HyperTransport tunnel-to-dual PCI-X bridge chip have been chosen by a major telecommunications company for systems scheduled for introduction in 2004, representing projected incremental annual revenue for SBE of up to $2 million.

SBE's new Gigabit Ethernet adapters take advantage of the PowerDrive HT7520's HyperTransport interface, which provides a high-speed bridge from the system motherboard to the Intel 82546EB Ethernet controller via PCI-X.

Enhanced versions of this card may use the PowerDrive HT7520's dual PCI-X bus for further functionality or port count expansion.

SBE plans an expansive line of new Gigabit Ethernet adapters using the PowerDrive HT7520, expected to be introduced in six to 12 months.

These adapters are targeted at a broad range of telecommunications systems.

"Integrating PLX's PowerDrive HT7520 into our Gigabit Ethernet adapter family puts SBE among the industry vanguard, as it provides such a rich combination of networking and I/O technology", said Dan Grey, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at SBE.

"This blend of powerful technology has allowed us to partner with a major telecommunications OEM, enhancing our significant revenue-generating potential.

We look forward to a continuing relationship with PLX, their providing us with advanced I/O interconnect technology, and the Gigabit Ethernet line being adopted by other OEMs".

The latest addition to SBE's LAN adapter family, the SBE boards enabled by the PLX PowerDrive HT7520 feature two ports of Gigabit Ethernet with small form factor (SFF) LC type fibre connectors for industry-standard network connection, supporting 1000Base-SX (short-haul) and 1000Base-LX (long-haul) wavelength transceivers.

In addition to harnessing the power of the PLX PowerDrive HT7520, the use of Intel's fourth-generation 82546EB Ethernet controller enables the board to automatically adapt to 10/100/1000Mbit/s networks.

In a contemporary host computer supporting HyperTransport, the adapter offers high performance, but does so while allowing backward compatibility with legacy 10/100Mbit/s networks still used worldwide.

"SBE's powerful new line of Gigabit Ethernet adapters represents the type of success PLX continues to realise for its OEM partners", said Steve Moore, Senior Marketing Manager at PLX.

"SBE recognised the strategic importance of integrating the HyperTransport interface into this line, as well as the value of that interface being provided by a leading I/O interconnect supplier such as PLX".

With a 16bit, 800MHz link speed - the highest-performance link available for current HyperTransport embedded applications - the PowerDrive HT7520 delivers unsurpassed bandwidth to other HyperTransport technology devices, such as networking, graphics and security processors.

The PowerDrive HT7520's high speed and bandwidth capacity eliminates I/O bottlenecks, which pose the main performance limitation in switches, routers and storage servers.

Back to top