Agere Systems Announces New Serial Platform for Universal Support of High-Speed Interface Standards
December 06 2004 - 7:50AM
PR Newswire (US)
Agere Systems Announces New Serial Platform for Universal Support
of High-Speed Interface Standards -- Meets industry-wide transition
to new serial technologies for faster, more efficient storage and
enterprise networking products ALLENTOWN, Pa., Dec. 6.
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.ANYSE:AGR.B)
today announced a new technology platform for high-speed serial
interfaces in storage and enterprise network products. This
semiconductor technology enables disk drive and system
manufacturers to design interface solutions across any serial
standard for increasing the data throughput up to 6.25
gigabits-per-second (Gbits/sec) between devices in computing,
mobile, Ethernet networking and network- and server-attached
storage applications. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040618/AGERELOGO ) Agere's
new serializer-deserializer (SerDes) platform addresses the
proliferation of serial interface technology across multiple
applications, from emerging Serial ATA (SATA) and PCI Express
standards used in PCs to Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS), Fibre Channel
and Gigabit Ethernet solutions in enterprise backplane and storage
area networks. All of these market segments require the use of
SerDes technology to drive serial connectivity. With power
consumption and core size half that of previous Agere serial
interface offerings, this SerDes solution delivers a tested and
validated platform for single-chip serial integration. Along with
exceptional performance, Agere's SerDes architecture offers
unprecedented design flexibility. Agere's solution supports both
ends of the interconnect for drive-side and host-side serial chips.
Serial interface silicon can be developed using both 130-nanometer
(nm) and industry-leading 90-nm CMOS process technologies, covering
all possible oxide, dielectric and voltage combinations. Agere's
solution also offers unique test features that can be used for
efficient and comprehensive production testing as well as for
system-level testing and optimization, resulting in robust system
designs and more reliable data transfers. "Agere's SerDes solutions
will target high-end networking and datacom switch fabrics along
with enterprise storage markets where OEMs look to upgrade the
bandwidth of existing backplanes and interfaces," said Sean Lavey,
program manager at industry analyst firm IDC. "We believe chip
suppliers with cost-optimized and low-power serial technology
capable of scaling from today's 2.5 and 3.125 Gbit/sec speeds to
faster 6.25 Gbit/s speeds will be positioned well for this upcoming
transition." IDC expects that nearly 50 percent of all enterprise
disk drives shipped in 2005 will incorporate serial interfaces,
with that number growing to more than 90 percent by 2008. In
addition, IDC projects the enterprise storage semiconductor market
to grow from $857 million in 2004 to $1.2 billion in 2008, and the
Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)/10 GbE chip market to grow from $970 million
this year to $2.5 billion in 2008 where this class of serial link
technology will be used. SerDes technology takes parallel lanes of
data bit streams and converts them to a single stream of high-speed
data running serially -- one bit after another -- for more
efficient transmissions. SerDes also simplifies system design by
eliminating routing congestion and lane-to-lane skew problems that
exist in parallel bus implementations. Agere's configurable
physical-layer SerDes can be used in application-specific
integrated circuits (ASICs) for host bus adapters, enterprise
routers and switches, and combined with Agere's TrueStore(R)
read-channels and other electronics, to develop storage SoCs and
controllers for disk drives. Industry-leading performance, power,
size and production testing With data rate support of up to 6.25
Gbits/sec, Agere's SerDes solution meets current and
next-generation requirements of a wide variety of serial interface
standards, including SATA, SAS, Fibre Channel, PCI Express, XAUI,
SONET backplane, Serial RapidIO and others. A higher level of
digital functionality in this new SerDes architecture contributes
to a 50 percent reduction in core size and power consumption, and
provides for future implementations that support data rates
exceeding 10 Gbits/sec. "With this platform, Agere is offering
serial technology that rivals the industry in power savings, small
size and data throughput speeds," said Necip Sayiner, vice
president of Agere's Enterprise and Networking division. "Agere's
flexible platform and production test capabilities provide
developers of serial interface products with substantial
time-to-market savings, design portability and improved reliability
for whatever serial interface standard they choose." The serial
interface platform offers advanced production test features to
ensure data throughput reliability and robust silicon designs.
Agere has enhanced its leadership in "at-speed" production testing
with the addition of asynchronous jitter tolerance test
capabilities in this new SerDes platform, allowing for
cost-effective core logic and clock data recovery loop testing
without the need for additional equipment. Agere's SerDes solutions
can perform adaptive equalization, enabling systems to continually
monitor and adjust signal quality while running live data. This
solution is also unique in offering a 90-nm SerDes architecture
capable of both non-return to zero (NRZ) and pulse amplitude
modulation schemes. The SerDes architecture is equally optimized
for small or large port count ASICs, and supports a wide range of
I/O supply voltages, from 1.8 to 3.3 volts. Agere's solution also
enables cost-effective wire-bonding up to 6.25 Gbits/s, and
supports flip-chip and lead frame package designs. Agere leadership
in serial development This new platform expands Agere's expertise
in high-speed serial interface technology. Agere has numerous
storage-based designs with customers for SATA and SAS hard drive
and host controller chips. Agere is also using this serial platform
to design 90nm- and 130 nm-based Ethernet router and switch ASICs
with SerDes capable of running up to 6.25 Gbits/sec. Agere's SerDes
core technologies are available now for ASIC macro cell
integration. About Agere Systems 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 the 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 -- making personal broadband a reality. For more information,
customers may visit Agere's Web site at http://www.agere.com/ or
contact one of Agere's regional sales offices. Customers in the
U.S. may also 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 and TrueStore are registered trademarks, and
Agere Systems and the Agere Systems logo 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 such
forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and
uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, 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, general industry and market
conditions, and our reliance on major customers and suppliers. 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, 2003, and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the
period ended June 30, 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: Glen
Haley, +1-610-712-1747 (office), +1-610-217-0781 (mobile), , or
Steven Goldsmith, +1-610-712-6737 (office), +1-484-553-0419
(mobile), , both of Agere Systems Web site: http://www.agere.com/
Copyright