Agere Systems Announces Gigabit Ethernet Solution for Businesses With 10 Times Faster Performance at a Fraction of the Cost
May 03 2005 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Agere Systems Announces Gigabit Ethernet Solution for Businesses
With 10 Times Faster Performance at a Fraction of the Cost - Accton
Selects Agere's Gigabit Ethernet Solution for Its New Ethernet
Switches LAS VEGAS, May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Agere Systems
(NYSE:AGR.ANYSE: AGR.B) today announced a Gigabit Ethernet chip
solution for switches that offers 10 times the performance in
bandwidth and speed delivering voice, video and data traffic
compared with currently deployed switching equipment, in a huge
number of business networks globally -- at a fraction of the cost.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040618/AGERELOGO )
This massive performance improvement at much lower prices
transforms today's unmanaged data networks into much more
intelligent, multimedia-rich converged infrastructure. The
improvement in performance and cost is likely to cause the
avalanche migration from Fast Ethernet (10/100 megabits per second)
networks to Gigabit Ethernet across virtually all business
applications. Furthermore, this solution is the catalyst for a
profound change in the way companies run their businesses going
forward, how effectively they compete, and how productive and
efficient they can become. Taiwan-based Accton Technology
Corporation has selected Agere's new chip solution, available now,
for use in Accton's Ethernet switching products the company
manufactures and sells to retail stores and distributors. Agere is
showcasing these products, embedded in Accton's new switch, at this
week's NetWorld+Interop trade show (at a private meeting room at
the Mandalay Convention Center -- Entrance Surf A). This
significant performance improvement will have widespread
repercussions in networks within businesses worldwide. For example,
current networks are unable to distinguish between voice, video and
data Internet Protocol (IP) traffic. This forces the businesses to
have dedicated and separate data and voice net works. The new Agere
chip solution introduces the required intell igence to dynamically
recognize these services, which enables the convergence of these
services onto a single, reliable and efficient multimedia-aware
infrastructure. In essence, this solution will be a catalyst in
rapidly accelerating the speed at which IP telephones replace
traditional Private Branch Exchange phones in businesses. Second,
this convergence eliminates the need to operate and maintain
costly, wire-intensive, and technology-diverse and complex
networks. For example, moves, adds, changes of employee equipment
within corporate networks, which are time-consuming and very
costly, become transparent to the end-users, increasing their
mobility. This translates to higher productivity and better
customer responsiveness. Third, this new solution raises the bar in
the industry because it delivers the only 48-port Gigabit Ethernet
device, which delivers traffic up to 1,000 megabits per second
(wire-speed deterministic performance) for each end user. This
makes possible virtual desktop and workspace sharing applications,
and the ability to seamlessly store and restore important data
across the business, which is key for business continuity and
disaster recovery. Agere's chip is the world's fastest, highest
capacity and most integrated Gigabit Ethernet chip solution. The
Economically Managed Switch (EMS) solution allows for an extremely
low-cost entry, which accelerates the convergence of voice, data
and video services onto a single network infrastructure at double
the port (channel) density and speed of any competing single-chip
offerings. The solution offers simple-to-use, yet powerful,
management capabilities, while maintaining an 'unmanaged'-like
price-per-port. Agere's new system-on-a-chip creates an EMS
Ethernet solution that delivers the required intelligence for
multimedia convergence at a fraction of the cost of fully-featured
and fully-managed switches. Accton has selected Agere's new
Ethernet silicon solutions for use within Accton's new Gigabit
Ethernet Lightly (EMS) and Fully Managed Switch (FMS). The low cost
of integration and reduced number of components required in the
Agere solution make the overall switch cost extremely cost
effective. The EMS solution consists of a new state-of-the-art
switch family called ET3K and the first-to-market Agere octal
TruePHYTM 1081-both of which are available in production quanti
ties now. The EMS market includes Ethernet web-managed/smart
switches used in small- to medium-size businesses (SMB). Using
Agere's solution, an information technology manager can
future-proof his network and reduce current capital and operational
expenses by more than 40 percent. Agere's EMS solution complements
the world's highest integration Gigabit Ethernet FMS solution for
the enterprise market introduced six months ago. Agere is the only
company with a single-chip, 48-port solution and a working octal
PHY solution in either market segment. Consequently, Agere's
48-port Gigabit Ethernet solution is the only one in production
requiring 7 chips, whereas any other competing solution needs 14
chips today. "Agere's new Ethernet solution spawns a ripple effect
of lowest area and power solution resulting in cost reductions to
such attractive levels that it's becoming an easy decision for
businesses to convert to Gigabit Ethernet networks," said Samuel
Chang, vice president of sales and marketing with Accton Technology
Corporation. "In addition, it provides information technology
managers with simple-to-use yet powerful management capabilities at
Layer 2 to Layer 4, while maintaining 'unmanaged'-like
price-per-port." "IT managers can now make the jump to Gigabit
speeds with intelligence priced similar to unmanaged switches,"
said Charlie Kawwas, director of product marketing with Agere
Systems. "This new Agere solution enables this shift from unmanaged
switches to Gigabit EMS switches at Agere's low entry-priced
silicon solution, to gain convergence and manageability. The key
breakthrough with this solution is that it delivers the required
functionality in a true system-on-a-chip that sets new cost
benefits in the industry. As a result, it makes sense for small- to
medium-size businesses to converge their networks and transition to
Gigabit Ethernet speeds faster." The solution builds on Agere's
growing momentum providing a broad portfolio of Ethernet offerings
for the Ethernet market. The company offers PHY and switching
silicon solutions for a wide range of Ethernet applications in
servers, desktops and wiring closets. Customers in the U.S. may
call the Agere Systems Customer Response Center at 1-800-372-2447.
Customers in Canada may call 1-800-553-2448. Customers outside
those countries may call 1-610-712-4323. Fax inquiries may be
directed to 1-610-712-4106, or e-mail queries to . Written
inquiries should be sent to Agere Systems, Room 10A-301C, 1110
American Parkway NE, Lehigh Valley Central Campus, Allentown, PA
18109, USA. Agere Systems is a global leader in semiconductors for
storage, wireless data, and public and enterprise networks. The
company's chips and software power a broad range of computing and
communications applications, from cell phones, PCs, PDAs, hard disk
drives and gaming devices to the world's most sophisticated
wireless and wireline networks. Agere's customers include top
manufacturers of consumer electronics, communications and computing
equipment. Agere's products connect people to information and
entertainment at home, at work and on the road-enabling the
connected lifestyle. * Agere is a registered trademark and Agere
Systems, the Agere Systems logo and TruePHY are trademarks of Agere
Systems Inc. This release contains forward-looking statements based
on information currently available to Agere. Agere's actual results
could differ materially from the results stated or implied by those
forward-looking statements due to a number of risk and
uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, our reliance on major customers and suppliers, our
ability to keep pace with technological change, our dependence on
new product development, price and product competition,
availability of manufacturing capacity, customer demand for our
products and services, and general industry and market conditions.
For a further discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties, see our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal
year ended September 30, 2004, and our quarterly report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2004. Agere disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040618/AGERELOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Agere Systems CONTACT:
Charlie Hartley of Agere Systems, +1-610-712-1728 (Office), or
908-507-6631 (Mobile), or Web site: http://www.agere.com/
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