ZARLINK: HIGH-QUALITY
16-PORT FAST ETHERNET SWITCHES
Management software and reference design availability reduce time to market.
ZARLINK Semiconductor has expanded its portfolio of high quality Ethernet switches with
the ZL5041x family of four devices. In addition to providing up to 16 Fast Ethernet
(10/100 Mb/s) and two Gigabit Ethernet non-blocking ports, the new chips deliver advanced
QoS (quality of service) features that allow carriers to quickly, and cost-effectively,
tailor services to customer needs.
To support these chips, ZARLINK has also launched a compact version of its Ethernet
management software suite, which allows designers to quickly build complete Layer 2
networking solutions. This economical, "low feature" package is designed for
backplane applications that require only a subset of the drivers and protocols offered in
the full suite.
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With their advanced QoS capabilities,
ZARLINK's ZL5041x Ethernet switches are ideal for handling time-sensitive voice and video
traffic in convergent networks. When combined with ZARLINK's MT90880/1/2/3 packet
processors, the switches enable TDM access services, such as T1/E1 or leased line
transport via Ethernet LANs, with no loss of quality.
FLEXIBLE SUPPORT FOR LOW-DENSITY APPLICATIONS
ZARLINK's ZL5041x switches meet a wide range of requirements for Ethernet equipment. The
ZL50417/18 integrate 16 Fast Ethernet and two Gigabit Ethernet ports to deliver
non-blocking data throughput of up to 7.2 Gb/s. At wire speed they forward up to 10.712
Mpps. The ZL50415/16 devices have 16 Fast Ethernet ports and achieve non-blocking
throughput as high as 3.2 Gb/s, forwarding up to 4.762 Mpps at wire speed. The Gigabit
ports provide Layer 2 forwarding and Layer 3/4 classification, and they 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.
COMPREHENSIVE REFERENCE DESIGNS
To help customers speed up their time to market, ZARLINK's new switches are supported by
comprehensive system reference designs. These designs provide a platform for multiple
applications, for example, managed and unmanaged configurations with Gigabit uplinks over
copper or glass-fiber cables. ZARLINK's ZL5041x family complements the company's 24-port
Fast Ethernet MVTX2600 and MVTX2800 Gigabit lines, as well as its successful family of
Ethernet switches.
AVAILABILITY
The new devices are currently in volume production. They are designed in cutting-edge
0.25-micron CMOS technology, and are offered in 553-pin BGA packages.
Ivan Mitic, EXT 85
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