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Editor: Linley Gwennap In This Issue
Communications Semiconductor Market Share 2009 is now available with all-new market share data for more than 20 categories of wired-communications chips. Get the complete reveal of where product markets have changed and how suppliers' positions shifted during the downturn. For more information, visit our web site. NetLogic First With 40G/100G Ethernet PHY This week, NetLogic announced the NLP1342 PHY for TOR (top of rack) and EOR (end of rack) applications. The quad-channel NLP1342 can be used as a 4x10GbE PHY or in 40GbE and 100GbE designs. For 10GbE, it converts between SFI and XFI interfaces. For 40/100GbE, the NLP1342 retimes the 10Gbps parallel physical interface (PPI) from optical modules for the host system. Specifically, the NLP1342 converts XLPPI--which is a 4x10Gbps non-retimed signal extracted from the physical media (fiber in this case)--to XLAUI. For 100GbE designs, three devices can be combined to retime CPPI (10x10Gbps) to meet CAUI specifications. In addition to fiber applications, direct-attach copper applications can also use the NLP1342. The chip integrates equalization and all external passive components to help designers meet space requirements on line cards. Manufactured in 40nm technology, the NLP1342 has a latency of 100ns and typical power dissipation of 0.5W per 10Gbps channel. This 40Gbps PHY is also unique in supporting EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet). The NLP1342 started sampling in 1Q10 and is packaged in a 19mm BGA. Given the increasing deployment of 10GbE in the data center, OEMs are starting to add 40GbE uplink ports. The NPL1342 provides the retiming function required in 40/100GbE designs. The device is relatively small, has low latency, and low power dissipation. By announcing the first 40/100GbE retimer, NetLogic takes the early lead for 40/100GbE PHY designs. Within the next six months, however, other PHY vendors will announce competing devices. --Jag Complete coverage of 40/100GbE PHYs appears in our new report A Guide to High-Speed Interconnects.
AppliedMicro is the latest company to jump into the rapidly growing market for 10GBase-T PHYs. The company is currently developing its Triveni family of 10GBase-T chips and plans to sample dual and quad PHYs later this quarter. Although the company will not be the first with 10GBase-T PHYs, it plans to leads on several fronts. Triveni dual and quad PHYs will be in 21mm and 27mm PBGA packages, respectively, making them smaller than any currently announced products. At 3.5W per channel, Triveni's power dissipation is as good as that of any other 10GBase-T PHY. Triveni will include the newest features requested by OEMs, including in-line MACSec, wake on LAN, EEE, and dynamic power scaling to reduce power for short cables. AppliedMicro's biggest differentiator, however, is its EMI cancellation circuit to reduce interference from walkie-talkies, TVs, and aeroplanes. Although PHY vendors have been working on reducing interference from cell phones, few have discussed addressing the radio interference from these other sources. This radio interference can cause dropped packets and even link failure. AppliedMicro missed out on the initial 10GBase-T PHY designs, but it is not too late to participate in the volume growth of this market. The company has developed a unique solution to radio interference. If AppliedMicro can demonstrate a reliability advantage over its competitors, Triveni should be a winner. --Jag Additional coverage of 10Gbase-T PHYs appears in our report A Guide to Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips.
The network-processor market in 1999 was the quintessence of over-inflated expectations, but ten years later, it proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year. NPU revenue grew 2%, whereas most other semiconductor markets declined. Granted, the NPU market is small, but the leading vendor (Intel) had more than $100 million in revenue, one pure-play NPU company (EZchip) is publicly traded, another (Wintegra) has filed for an IPO (again), and one of the NPU startups of the boom era that was acquired (Agere) lives on as a group within a larger company (LSI). In 2009, Intel gained NPU share as designs using its IXP23xx access and IXP28xx 10G chips increased production. What would constitute a decent business for most other semiconductor companies does not move the needle for Intel, however. The company has not introduced a new NPU since 2004 and has since granted rights to the IXP technology to Netronome, which is developing follow-on products. Second-ranked LSI also gained share. The company has updated the Agere technology and integrated multiple functions in a single chip. Its focus has turned to access-network equipment, such as wireless infrastructure, which drove its growth in 2009. The company is boldly plotting a path to merging CPU, NPU, and DSP technology, with its first Axxia CPU-NPU hybrids already sampling. The fastest growing of the top five suppliers, third-ranked EZchip has achieved profitability by focusing on 10Gbps and faster NPUs. Its biggest customers include Cisco and Juniper. Earlier this year, EZchip began sampling the industry's first 100Gbps merchant NPU, putting it on track to serve high-density 10GbE line cards. Wintegra saw a slight dip in revenue caused by declining sales of its first-generation chips, which achieved success in broadband infrastructure. For its second-generation NPUs, the company is particularly targeting systems for mobile backhaul. The backhaul market is heating up as carriers deploy faster air interfaces, such as HSPA and LTE, to support increasing mobile data use. AppliedMicro rounds out the top five. Once the leading supplier, having acquired pioneer MMC Networks in 2000, the company has ceased investing in new NPUs. The company has, however, incorporated elements of its NPU technology in its new embedded processors, which have become a greater area of focus for the company. Complete data on NPU revenue is available in our new report Communications Semiconductor Market Share 2009. At the end of June, Xelerated announced it had begun sampling its new HX family of network processors. The company says multiple customers have now received samples. The HX family includes 100Gbps/150Mpps variants with and without traffic managers, plus one 50Gbps/75Mpps version. In a late change, Xelerated boosted the speed of the HX330's DDR3 interfaces to 667MHz, providing a 25% increase in traffic-manager bandwidth. Chip verification is ongoing, but the important new TM block appears fully functional. With a 100Gbps Interlaken interface and no TM, the HX326 supports cut-through packet processing for100G Ethernet. After suffering sizable schedule slips, it was critical for Xelerated to get fully functional HX first silicon. Having apparently cleared that hurdle, the startup can turn its attention to closing and supporting design wins. --Bob Complete coverage of Xelerated's HX family appears in our report A Guide to Network Processors.
Sales of semiconductors for wired-communications applications are rapidly recovering after a dramatic slowdown that began at the end of 2008 and continued into 2009. Sales of Ethernet chips and other components tied to enterprise spending are bouncing back, although the duration of the recovery depends on the health of the global economy. Sales of broadband ICs and other components will follow trends in carrier capital spending. While some carriers are in a low-investment phase of their business cycles, other carriers--particularly those in emerging markets--are investing heavily. Sales of new technologies, such as PON and 10GbE, are growing quickly as the downturn hastens the demise of the legacy technologies they are replacing. Recent consolidation among chip vendors will enable them to reduce annual price declines, further improving the revenue outlook. Companies seeking to understand these dynamics will benefit from the perspective of the leading group of communications semiconductor analysts. Communications Semiconductor Market Forecast 2009–2014 provides the detailed market information needed to sort out the complexities of this market. With this report, chip vendors, investors, and OEMs will readily see how big the mature product markets are and how fast the emerging categories are growing. Wired-communications semiconductor product categories covered in the report include network processors, 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet components, PON and VDSL transceivers, network search engines, and optical-transport ICs. Also included are forecasts for interconnect chips, CPU IP, FPGAs, and embedded microprocessors--including multicore processors. The report includes a brief text summary providing analysis of the data and a set of tables for more than a dozen categories of wired-communications semiconductors. The single-user license includes a brief printed document with summary analysis of the data and is packaged with a non-printing PDF that provides market-forecast tables for more than a dozen product categories. The corporate license includes the printed summary as well as a PDF that permits additional copies to be printed. For easier data reuse, the corporate-license edition is packaged with a Microsoft Excel workbook containing all of the data. A forthcoming report will provide information about semiconductors for mobile and wireless-communications applications. Whether you are looking for a well-established vendor to source from, a vendor to partner with, or a rising company to invest in, this report will cut your research time and save you money. Order Communications Semiconductor Market Forecast today.
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