Texas Instruments Offers 10/100Mbps Switching Solution for Corporate Connectivity at the Desktop
DALLAS (Oct. 20, 1997) -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE:TXN) announces today that it will develop a third solution based on its market-leading ThunderSWITCH architecture. The TNETX3270, a 27-port 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) device, represents TI's continued investment into the switching integrated circuit (IC) market as it is the second tailored solution to be announced within the last three months. The device will be designed to satisfy corporate desktop connectivity requirements with the necessary features that include functionality and cost.
"Our ThunderSWITCH architecture has been very successful in meeting the corporate connectivity needs by driving the cost out of switching while delivering high-performance, feature-rich solutions," said Kurt Eckles, ThunderSWITCH marketing manager for TI's Networking Business Unit (NBU). "This ThunderSWITCH 24/3 device combines unparalleled cost advantages, superior architecture and a 0.25 micron process to further the migration of switching to replace repeaters. We intend to enable a street price of less than $50 per port."
Critical Requirements for the Corporate Market
The corporate desktop market has defined specific features for switched solutions in enterprise networks:
- Full-duplex, wire-speed performance
- Architectures that ensure zero packet loss
- Compatibility with the latest IEEE standards
- Virtual LAN (802.1Q)
- Flow control (802.3X)
- Priority (802.1P)
- Spanning Tree (802.1D)
TNETX3270 will meet or exceed all of these requirements while focusing on providing a cost-effective solution to the industry. The device will have 24 full-duplex 10 Mbps capable ports and three full-duplex 10/100 Mbps uplink ports. All three of the 10/100 Mbps uplink ports will have the ability to be combined into a single high-performance uplink channel for a 600 Mbps switch-to-switch connection.
This device will also provide the flexibility for either a low-cost unmanaged configuration or a very sophisticated enterprise-wide managed environment. When used in an unmanaged environment, the bill of materials will be simply the switch, physical layer (PHY) devices, packet memory and an 8-pin serial EEPROM to configure the switch. When used in a managed environment, the ThunderSWITCH 24/3 will be capable of cost effectively supporting Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Spanning Tree 802.1D and all nine levels of Remote Monitoring (RMON) through the support of an optimized, dedicated central processing unit (CPU) interface.
Complete System Solutions from Texas Instruments
TI offers a complete system solution with the ThunderSWITCH 24/3 device, including all the components for the PHY connections with a 3V Octal 10 Mbps synchronous PHY (TNETE2008) device and a single-chip 3V 10/100 Mbps PHY (TNETE2101) device. For the 10 Mbps connections, a synchronous PHY interface
will enable a high port density switch solution to eliminate more than 150 pins. This will be achieved without limiting the ability of the switch to quickly scale into more cost-effective semiconductor processes, guaranteeing a competitive cost structure over several years. This optimized 10 Mbps interface shares many of the same concepts as the Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII).
"Switching is evolving," said Eckles. "In order to drive that evolution, TI will invest in architectures that deliver intelligence at the edge of the network. TI's multi-million dollar investment in our Network Technology Center enables us to deliver intelligent solutions quicker, underscoring our commitment to shorten our customers' overall time to volume."
Development Tools
Network system designers will be able to evaluate the TNETX3270 with a reference kit, including a 24/3 Ethernet switch reference platform, schematics, Gerber files, data sheets, applications notes, software, ordering information and other useful product collateral. The reference kit is intended to
accelerate original equipment manufacturer (OEM) time-to-market and to provide an easy-to-use evaluation method for the device.
Availability of the TNETX3270 is planned for first quarter of 1998. Additional information on TI's ThunderSWITCH product family can be found on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/network/nbuhomex.htm.
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