Three MACs in one for Fast Ethernet switch

Solid-State Supplies describes the KS8993 three-port Fast Ethernet switch as a world first.

Incorporating three 10BaseT/100BaseTX transceivers, three media access control (MAC) units with a high-speed two-layer switch and a 64Kbyte embedded frame buffer, the new KS8993 three-port Fast Ethernet switch from Solid State Supplies is a world first.

Featuring enhanced quality of service (QoS), making it highly efficient when used, for example as a switch for an IP phone, the KS8993 runs in two modes.

The first is as a three port integrated switch and the second is as a three-port switch with the third port decoupled from the physical port.

In this mode, access to the third MAC is provided using a reverse or forward media independent interface (MII) which can be connected to an external processor and used for routing purposes or public network access.

QoS is enabled using VLAN and 802.1 priority queuing and is designed for use in an unmanaged design which does not require processor intervention.

This is achieved through I/O strapping at system reset time.

Physical signal transmission and reception are enhanced through the use of patented mixed signal circuitry which improves the efficiency of the design for lower power consumption and smaller chip die size.

Supporting UTP or fibre installations, the KS8993 has a 1.0Gbit/s high-performance memory bandwidth and automatic address learning, address ageing and address migration.

The on-chip integrated address look-up engine supports 1000 absolute MAC addresses.

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