TI targets SoHo with Ethernet switches

Electronic News, August 18, 1997

Dallas--Texas Instruments' latest foray into the Ethernet switching market is targeted at the small office, and the company asserts it will drive switch costs down to $50 per port.

The TNETX3100 Desktop ThunderSWITCH 8/2 is a single-chip switching engine which supports eight standard Ethernet ports and two Fast Ethernet uplinks. All the ports run off integrated single-port MACs, and function in full-duplex mode. The chip also uses 3.3 volts and features low power dissipation, so the switch boxes do not need fans or climate-controlled environments.

The Desktop ThunderSWITCH is listed at $65 for 10,000-unit sales. "We think this type of product is priced at a point that will allow OEMs to develop switches for the desktop level," said Neela Patel, TI's product marketing manager for the networking unit. She said customers should be able to design a complete switching box for about $15 per port, allowing end-user prices of $50 per port.

This is likely to cut into the current market share of less-effective repeaters, which require each connected port to share the same bandwidth, while switches give each port dedicated bandwidth. Until recently, repeaters held a market advantage over switches because their low price made them a more cost-effective approach to desktop networking, while most switches were used in system backbones. However, several recent products have pushed the price of switches below the $100 per port level and closer to the cost of repeaters, making switches a more attractive option, and this attraction has grown which each drop in price.

The Desktop ThunderSWITCH is sampling now, and volume production is scheduled for the fourth quarter. It is currently being manufactured with a 0.35-micron process, but Ms. Patel said they are expecting to implement 0.18-micron technology in January, which will make the chip less expensive. This will be TI's first network product to use the denser process. "The OEMs, are anxious to get this at the 0.35-micron level, but when it goes to 0.18-microns, life will just get better for everybody," she said.

Networking researcher Diane Myers, a senior analyst at In-Stat, says cheaper switching products are becoming more common as the market grows and standard chips begin to replace ASICs. This trend is especially apparent at the low-end of the user spectrum such as small offices, which is exactly where the Desktop ThunderSWITCH is aimed.

Many of the high-end switches are designed for system backbones and feature Fast Ethernet capabilities and support thousands of addresses. The Desktop ThunderSWITCH has trimmed costs by allowing most individual users to connect at standard Ethernet speeds and supporting only 32 addresses. However, Ms. Patel stressed that the product is aimed at the desktop level rather than backbone, and while it may not be as impressive as more costly switches, it is definitely more effective than the repeaters currently in place at the desktop.

The chip has an interface for an additional chip, which can store more than 1,000 additional addresses. Each port can support multiple addresses, so users can add or remove computers to the network anytime, without losing information.

The Desktop ThunderSWITCH follows TI's Commercial ThunderSWITCH, which was introduced last year and has since shipped more than one million units in its 12/2 and 24/2 configurations of standard/Fast Ethernet. Bay Networks has released two recent switch systems based on the first ThunderSWITCH, and TI is currently talking with them about the newest member of the product family. The company expects to introduce several more products over the next year, including a 24/3 version of the Commercial product, and a next generation ThunderSWITCH II with Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet capabilities.

In-Stat's Ms. Myers noted several other companies are jumping into the small office end of the switch market, notably Galileo Technology, which was the first company to introduce a standard switch engine chip for this market segment. However, she said TI's reputation and strong relationship with customers will give them an advantage in the market over smaller start-ups. "They did very well with the initial ThunderSWITCH, so I expect them to do equally well with this device," she said.