Vitesse Semiconductor expanded its widely deployed E-StaX-III Enterprise Ethernet switch family with the VSC7431, the industry's lowest power and scalable 28-port Gigabit Ethernet (GE) switch with Layer 3 (L3) managed routing capabilities.

"Our new VSC7431 sets a new bar for functionality and trumps the competition with unique slow power, integration and functionality," said Harpreet Chohan, director of product marketing at Vitesse. "Vitesse continuously redefines the capabilities of its Ethernet technology to address the evolving demands of the Enterprise network. Our superior technology makes it easy for our OEM and ODM customers to deliver fully managed L2 switching and L3 routing support while realizing unprecedented BOM cost savings."

Targeted at high-performance small and medium Enterprise network applications, the VSC7431 demands 50% less power while integrating must-have features for the Enterprise market: up to 50% more packet buffer memory and a significantly larger L3 router table. The VSC7431 is also the industry's only GE solution scalable to 56 ports of direct connectivity to 100Mbps and 1Gbps optical modules, using only two switch chips in a single design.

VSC7431: Feature Rich with Compatible Software API

The VSC7431's support of 1000 IPv4 host or prefix entries is double that of the nearest competitive device, while the support of 128 router legs or 128 IPv4 multicast groups is similarly twice the size of the competition's 64 legs and groups. The switch integrates a MIPS CPU for supporting control-plane tasks, and uses a common software API to Vitesse's existing family of SparX-III and E-Stax-III switches, allowing design reuse and a faster time-to-market for customers.

Complemented by Vitesse's SimpliPHY products, such as the industry's highest density 12-port PHY, the VSC8512, Vitesse's bundled GE solutions lower overall BOM cost and board real estate compared to the competition.