Vativ Announces World’s First Single-Chip 10GbE Tranceiver for UTP Cabling

SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2005 – Vativ Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of innovative DSP-based silicon solutions, announced today it has begun customer sampling of the industry’s first and only single-chip 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) transceiver for full-duplex operation over a single CAT5e or CAT6 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable. Targeted customers for the new Vativ V10LAN transceiver are OEMs and system vendors developing high-speed Ethernet switches and servers for the enterprise datacenter market.

"Our V10LAN transceiver enables the use of widely available, low-cost CAT5e and CAT6 cables, as well as off-the-shelf RJ-45 connectors," said Sreen Raghavan, Vativ Technologies’ president and CEO. "This makes solutions based on the V10LAN the most economical for 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbones, costing less than a tenth of an equivalent short-reach optical solution. We are excited to be sampling the world’s first 10-Gigabit Ethernet transceiver for UTP cabling to our customers."

The V10LAN transceiver is implemented in 0.13m CMOS technology, with the host side supporting an IEEE 802.3ae-compliant 10GbE Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI). Full duplex transmission over UTP cabling is achieved through remodulating the XAUI data by using a multibit-per-baud modulation scheme. Additionally, extremely powerful forward error correction (FEC) coding provides an additional 8dB of coding gain to improve immunity to external noise. On the receiver side, an integrated custom digital signal processor implements high-performance adaptive equalization, echo and NEXT/FEXT cancellation algorithms to enable robust, error-free reception.

A V10LAN-based backbone solution provides an attractive alternative to a 10GBASE-CX4 solution by enabling IT managers to implement short-reach 10GbE links over readily available, inexpensive UTP cables. CAT5e and CAT6 cables are deployed today in most datacenters and can be cut and spliced in-house as needed at a negligible cost. In contrast, a CX4 (InfiniBand) cable assembly is factory-ordered and typically costs upwards of $100. These factors, in conjunction with other negative attributes of CX4 cable such as weight and bend radius, have kept the technology from widespread implementation.

"UTP cable is ubiquitous, and datacenter managers are more comfortable with it, as opposed to optical and CX4 solutions, which are less flexible and more expensive," said Jag Bolaria, senior analyst at The Linley Group, a leading provider of independent technology analysis and strategic consulting for the networking-silicon industry. "The Vativ solution is flexible, upgradeable, and easier for datacenter managers to use."

Vativ is currently working with early adopters who are producing V10LAN-based XENPAK copper modules and 10GbE NICs (network interface cards) for the datacenter market. The availability of these products will let datacenter managers populate XENPAK and PCI slots with a significantly cheaper alternative without requiring replacement of existing Ethernet switches and corporate servers.

The new Vativ transceiver includes a standard two-wire MDIO (management data input/output) interface for diagnostic information, status monitoring and control. The V10LAN’s architecture permits easy implementation in a XENPAK form factor with the support of MSA-specific I/O and registers. The chip allows the use of a single low-cost 25MHz crystal oscillator to provide the reference clock.

Price and Availability
The V10LAN is priced at $135 in 1K quantities. Customer samples and evaluation modules are available now, with volume production scheduled for early Q3 of 2005. More information is available from Vativ Technologies, Inc., 9339 Genesee Avenue, Suite 130, San Diego, Calif. 92121; phone 858-658-0050; fax 858-658-0580; e-mail info@vativ.com; or on the Web at www.vativ.com/products.php?productfamily=lan.

About Vativ Technologies
Vativ Technologies, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company focused on providing innovative high-bandwidth, advanced digital signal processing solutions for digital television and 10-Gigabit Ethernet LAN markets. Vativ’s novel DSP technology has resulted in multiple patents filed in the U.S. and internationally. The company’s advanced architecture enables higher data rate and lower system cost, while providing greater robustness and higher performance margins required for using low-cost media interconnects. Vativ is headquartered in San Diego.