Vitesse Introduces Secure Carrier Grade Ethernet Switches for Business Critical Applications

Vitesse Introduces Secure Carrier Grade Ethernet Switches for Business Critical Applications

Vitesse announced the SparX-II-16 and SparX-II-24 Switch-on-a-Chip (SoC) devices with an integrated, high-performance processing engine.

SparX-II-16/24 Layer-2 Ethernet Switch Chipset Provides Content Aware Security, Failover Protection and Advanced Quality of Service Features

SparX-II, the second generation of the popular SparX family of Gigabit Ethernet switches, introduces Carrier-class features such as content aware security, fast failover protection and advanced Quality of Service (QoS). Accommodating the fast-rising demand for bandwidth, the SparX-II family enables network architectures to be upgraded with higher performance Gigabit Ethernet switches that can handle a diverse range of carrier applications and services, at dramatically lower cost points than previously available.

As one of the industry's most integrated solutions, the SparX-II boasts Metro Ethernet Forum-specified (MEF) Carrier Ethernet and advanced telecom features offering distinct advantages in these types of systems versus competitive Ethernet switch offerings. The fast protection switching enables the device to achieve redundancy switching times significantly below the 50ms SONET telecom specification. In addition, the devices incorporate OAM functions such as IEEE802.1ag (Connectivity Fault Management) for use in Layer-2 (L2) managed and backplane solutions as well as in Synchronous Ethernet with SSM according to ITU-G.8264/Y.1362.

SparX-II-24 is targeted at cost-effective, Web-managed or managed standalone switches. The QoS and security features make SparX-II-24 ideal for VoIP, IPTV, WLAN and triple-play enabled switches. Additionally, best-in-class, non-blocking, switching performance makes SparX-II-24 a perfect choice for use in embedded switch backplane applications, such as modular computer servers and DSLAMs.

“The high-performance SparX-II-16/24 switch chipset designed into our Falcon product line of next-generation Carrier Ethernet network-termination-units (NTUs) plays a critical role in our ability to deliver competitively priced, highly advanced, fiber optic access systems that succeed in the marketplace,” said Amnon Ilan, vice president, R&D of FibroLAN. “We are especially impressed with the switches' high integration and rich feature set. These attributes, combined with a flexible interfacing to external hardware and committed application support from Vitesse, have enabled FibroLAN to deliver a giant technological step forward with Falcon's industry-leading Metro-Ethernet functionality, application flexibility and cost-effectiveness compared to competitive offerings.”

The advanced security and traffic prioritizing features of the SparX-II devices are delivered through the addition of Vitesse's Content Aware Processor (VCAP) for wire-speed, deep packet inspection used in security and other heavy packet inspection applications. Vitesse's VCAP processor is a TCAM-based processor capable of inbound and outbound wire-speed packet inspection that includes the ability to do frame filtering, rate limitation, snooping, redirect, mirroring, and accounting functions. The VCAP embeds powerful protocol awareness for well-known protocols, such as ARP, IPv4, IPv6, and UDP/TCP.

The high integration and performance realized with the SparX-II 16/24 comes from a combination of an integrated ARM9 core processor and hardware acceleration that provides for a simpler, smaller board design with fewer components, thus reducing the total bill of materials for a fully managed L2 Gigabit Ethernet switch.

“Market realities are driving the need for increased bandwidth, lower latency and effective redundancy in many applications,” said Martin Olsen, product marketing manager for Vitesse. “Together with our existing stackable switch device, E-StaX-34, SparX-II delivers against high security and advanced prioritization challenges so that our Carrier Network, backplane and SME customers can meet these design challenges with greater efficiency and lower cost.”

Turnkey Solutions

Vitesse provides customers with reference systems, including turnkey hardware and software packages, and responsive application team support. The software development platform can reduce development costs and improve time-to-market for smart managed and fully managed solutions. The software code is based on open source eCos, which has a small foot print compared to Linux, and supports most L2 switching protocols including MSTP, LACP, LLDP, and IGMP snooping for efficient video transmission. Vitesse's software includes support for Power over Ethernet (PoE/PoE+) and Synchronous Ethernet solutions from various ecosystem partners. The solution includes software management of partner solutions and LLDP power negotiation protocols.

Vitesse Copper PHY

The advanced power and energy management features of the SparX-II 16/24 allow designers to address environmental and energy specifications by working in conjunction with Vitesse's award-winning Copper PHYs. The Copper PHY devices are based on a patented, fully balanced, voltage-mode line driver technology, allowing for lower cost magnetics to be used in Gigabit Ethernet applications. They also contain two embedded, energy-efficient features, ActiPHY and PerfectReach, that deliver green power savings equivalent to over 400mW per port.

Additional information about these features is available on Vitesse's EcoEthernet web site.

Availability
The SparX-II 16/24, known as the VSC7401 and the VSC7405 respectively, are currently in full production. For more information, please visit VSC7401 or VSC7405.