Intel Expands Optical Silicon Offerings for the Telecommunications Market Segment; New Chips Provide Intelligent Optical Networking for Next Generation Networks

Business Wire, June 6, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUPERCOMM 2000

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2000

At the SuperComm show today, Intel Corporation announced seven new optical networking chips that enable a new class of telecommunications equipment capable of supporting both voice and data applications. The new chips, used in the rapidly growing market segment for optical networking, operate at speeds ranging from the basic 64 Kbs signal delivered by a standard telephone line to OC192 or 10 Gigabits per second.

"There is a massive build-out of optical networking infrastructure taking place today," said Deepak Rana, senior director of Intel's Optical Networking Operations. "The exponential growth of voice and data traffic on these networks is driving this build-out. However, our focus is not on simply pushing bits of information. Intel's optical networking chips are designed to help customers develop new multiservice network equipment."

Intel's new optical networking building blocks support existing applications such as voice, local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) data traffic, storage area networks (SANs), and virtual private networks (VPNs). And as new applications and services emerge, such as metropolitan area networks (MAN) they can be supported on the same network equipment. These new components are aimed at telecommunications equipment from the access point of the optical network to the network core.

The new optical networking components being announced today are part of the Intel(R) Internet Exchange(TM) architecture, a framework for designing powerful and flexible networking and telecommunications equipment using reprogrammable silicon. The Intel Internet Exchange architecture allows systems designers to add network functionality quickly and cost effectively. The components announced today are results of Intel's acquisitions of GIGA A/S in March of this year and LevelOne in August 1999.

      New Optical Networking Components from Intel

--  GD16556/GD16557 - A chipset for network interconnect devices such
    as bridges and gateways that serve as the on and off ramps to
    optical networks. This chipset improves the reliability of data
    transfer on optical networks through a process called "digital
    wrapping." This technology "wraps" each data cell with bits of
    information that identify the type of data the cell is carrying.
    This eliminates the need to decode the information in the cell to
    determine how it should be handled. This chipset consists of a
    receiver chip (the Intel GD16556), a system ASIC tailored for the
    application, and a transmitter chip (the Intel GD16557). The
    devices operate on 3.3 volts and can work with OC-3, OC-12, OC-48
    and Gigabit Ethernet line rates.

--  IXF30001 - A single-chip OC192 Forward Error Correction (FEC)
    device that enables system designers to enhance the performance of
    their optical transmission systems by improving the
    signal-to-noise ratio of their transmission link. This feature
    allows for more complex optical architectures while maintaining
    superior transmission quality.

--  IXF32003 - A multiplexer that enables an OC192 fiber optic line to
    be divided into four separate OC48 lines while handling all of the
    section and line termination and performance monitoring
    requirements associated with both worldwide standards for optical
    networking -- the synchronous optical network (SONET) standard for
    North America and the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) standard
    for Europe and Asia. The GD32003 is suited for high-density
    applications that require low power consumption such as Add/Drop
    Multiplexers (ADM), cross connects, and voice/data concentrators
    used in Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) devices.

--  IXF6012/IXF6048 - Two multirate, multiservice framers capable of
    handling both packet and cell data running on ATM, Frame Relay or
    Ethernet protocols. The IXF6012 works at speeds ranging from OC-1
    to OC-12, and the IXF6048 works at speeds ranging from OC1 to
    OC-48. These chips can be used in ATM, Layer 3, and multiservice
    switches; Gigabit and terabit routers; DWDM equipment; and LAN/WAN
    interfaces.

--  IXF6151 - A 28 channel mapper that addresses both SONET and SDH
    industry standards. This chip has the unique ability to map data
    from T1 and E1 networks running on copper wiring to SONET and SDH
    networks running on fiber optic lines, thereby protecting the
    investments that service providers have made in their global
    networks.

Pricing and Availability

The Intel GD16556/16557 is priced at $110 in quantities of 1,000 and is currently available in volume quantities. The Intel IXF30001 will be available in sample quantities in July at which time the price will be available. The IXF32003 will be available in sample quantities by the end of the third quarter at which time a price will be available. The Intel IXF6012 and IXF6048 are priced at $130 and $250 respectively in units of 1,000. They are currently available in sample quantities with full production by the end of this year. The Intel IXF6151 is priced at $99 in units of 1,000. It is available now in sample quantities with full production scheduled for the third quarter. Technical details on the products are available at www.intel.com/IXA.>