SCIENCE

MIPS Technologies has announced that the latest Ethernet switch families from Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation, a leading provider of advanced IC solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks, are powered by MIPS processors. Both the newest members of the SparX-III Ethernet switch family and the new Caracal family of Ethernet switches take advantage of MIPS' performance/power efficiency advantages and feature Vitesse's EcoEthernet v2.0 green technology, delivering high levels of energy efficiency along with high performance to address increasing network bandwidth.

Vitesse's SparX-III switches (VSC7424, VSC7425, VSC7426 and VSC7427) are designed for green enterprise and small/medium business and enterprise (SMB/SME) applications, including customer-premises equipment on the network edge, and multiple dwelling unit/multiple tenant unit access devices. According to Vitesse, the SparX-III family enables industry-leading power savings, differentiated service delivery, and network security essential to next-generation green enterprise and SMB applications. The devices deliver up to 25 percent faster network management than competitive solutions targeted at the SME market, and can reduce power consumption in SME networks up to 50 percent.

Part of Vitesse's broad, scalable family of Carrier Ethernet Switch Engines, the new Caracal solutions (VSC7428 and VSC7429) target carrier Ethernet, mobile backhaul and fiber-to-the-home (FTTx) passive optical network (PON) applications. The family features network timing and performance monitoring capabilities which are essential for migrating mobile backhaul or packet-based 3G and 4G wireless networks. The embedded MIPS processors can run customer management and control software while delivering a warm restart capability that allows network providers to reload software and reboot the switch without interrupting customer service. According to Vitesse, the Caracal switches are among the most fully featured, low-power carrier Ethernet solutions in the industry for mobile backhaul and access applications.

"We chose MIPS because of its leadership in providing high performance and quality of service along with low power--all essential for next generation packetized networks," said Steve Perna, vice president of product marketing, Vitesse. "As a long-time MIPS licensee, we are excited to again leverage the industry-standard MIPS processor architecture as we establish Vitesse as a pioneer in green Ethernet switch technology. MIPS' processor IP allows us to satisfy our customers' requirements for high-performance, flexible and power-efficient networking solutions that adhere to today's stringent environmental standards."

According to The Linley Group's Communications Semiconductor Market Forecast 2009-2014, shipments of ASSP-based GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) switches are expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.4% from 2009 to 2014, with GbE switch shipments growing quickly for reasons including the transition from Fast Ethernet to GbE, as well as faster broadband (PON) and mobile broadband speeds.

"MIPS Technologies has a strong presence across networking markets, including enterprise networking. Our presence is growing as companies increasingly recognize the performance and power benefits of the MIPS architecture--benefits that will become ever-more appealing with the move to higher bandwidth networks and new green requirements," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing and business development, MIPS Technologies. "We're pleased to be working with innovative companies like Vitesse as they develop MIPS-Based solutions that deliver exceptional performance, affordability and power savings--and protect the environment."