ThunderCELL offers unprecedented levels of integration. With fewer chips required for ATM cell processing, developers benefit from shorter development times and the ability to add capacity or functionality to their cards.
ThunderCELL also delivers flexibility to both systems developers and network managers. Systems developers can choose among ThunderCELL products tailored to different buses and tasks, yet based on a common architecture.
"ThunderCELL provides a single, integrated architecture for developing systems that are finely tuned to meet different application needs," said Stevan Plote, TI's ATM products marketing manager. "And ThunderCELL gives system developers a solution that can be easily upgraded because the architecture can accommodate the continuing evolution in ATM standards and capabilities, such as LAN emulation and enhanced flow control for traffic management on ATM networks."
The ThunderCELL HyperSAR (TNETA1570) offers throughput of greater than 200 Mbps-higher bandwidth than is available on any similar device today. It is targeted for hubs and LAN or enterprise switches that have an ATM interface or backplane.
The ThunderCELL HyperSAR was co-developed under a strategic relationship between TI and Ascom Nexion. A company pioneering the implementation of new generation integrated service communications products, Ascom Nexion will include the device in its Nexen product family.
"We jointly architected and developed the ThunderCELL HyperSAR with Texas Instruments because the availability of a high-performance ATM SAR with new capabilities is critical to the ongoing evolution of networking products," said Bruce McClure, president and CEO of Ascom Nexion.
The ThunderCELL HyperSAR reduces costs for systems developers by delivering integrated support for multiple networking services (e.g., ATM, Frame Relay, and Ethernet) on a single platform and permitting smoother addition of new services. For network managers, the device's design adapts to existing networking environments, which enables the continuing use of legacy equipment and services and supports gradual evolution to ATM.
The chip also offers dedicated Constant Bit Rate (CBR) support for transmitting video traffic, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interface for easily connecting personal computers, "buffer chaining" to ensure more efficient use of memory and system resources and other features that improve packet-processing performance.
Three other products announced by TI today deliver the benefits of the ThunderCELL architecture to developers of network interface cards (NICs) for workstations and personal computers. The ThunderCELL TNETA1560 SBus SAR and TNETA1561 Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus SAR offer highly integrated functionality for NICs. The ThunderCELL TNETA1500 transceiver provides a consistent physical layer for ATM adapters and is the only device of its type currently available that meets both the ATM Forum standard for the User-Network Interface (UNI) and Bellcore jitter specifications.
All ThunderCELL products are scheduled for availability from TI and its authorized distributors.
Samples Production -------------------------------------------------------------------- HyperSAR TNETA1570 240-pin MQUAD $78 Now 3Q95 TNETA1560 240-pin plastic pkg $50 X Now --------------------------------------------------------------------- TNETA1561 240-pin plastic pkg $50 Now 3Q95 TNETA1500 144-pin QFP $45 X Now ----------------------------------------------------------------------
ThunderNET, ThunderLAN and ThunderCELL are trademarks of Texas Instruments Incorporated.
Suggested resale pricing in 1K quantities
September 1995, vol. 12, no. 6
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