Inphi Delivers Industry's First 100 Gigabit Ethernet CMOS PHY Solutions for Next Generation 100G Line Cards

Industry’s Lowest Power 100GbE CMOS Chipsets Deliver Three Times Less Power and Twice the Levels of Integration Compared to Available Offerings

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 20, 2011-Inphi Corporation (NYSE: IPHI), a leading provider of high-speed analog semiconductor solutions for the communications and computing markets, today announced the availability of the industry’s first, lowest power100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) CMOS PHY solutions that support the IEEE 802.3ba standard and target next generation high density 100G line cards. Based on Inphi’s iPHY™ architecture announced in March (see announcement here), the IN112510 100GbE CMOS Gearbox (GB) and IN012525 100GbE CMOS Clock Data Recovery (CDR) chipsets will accelerate time-to-market for higher aggregate bandwidth systems while containing costs of next generation 100GbE line cards targeted for data center and enterprise networks.

Cost-effective, energy-efficient 100GbE links will soon become essential tools for data center and service provider networks, which are struggling to satisfy the global economy’s relentless hunger for more bandwidth. With service providers and data centers demanding technology with low power consumption, Inphi’s latest iPHY CMOS PHY solutions will enable them to easily upgrade to 100GbE networks while retaining a lower carbon footprint. By integrating multiple channels along with transmit and receive functions on a single IC, Inphi is able to double the levels of integration available from existing 100GbE PHY and CDR offerings.

“Inphi is proud to deliver on the iPHY architecture and be the first to sample the industry’s lowest power CMOS 100GbE Gearbox and CDR PHY semiconductors for line cards and modules enabling next generation 100G platforms,” said Siddharth Sheth, Vice President of Marketing for Inphi’s high-speed connectivity products.  “Our industry-leading PHY design metrics – power, footprint, integration – position us to use these devices across data center, enterprise and service provider applications. As the market transitions away from the power hungry and area intensive SiGe technology based CFP modules towards lower power, higher density CMOS based CFP and CFP2 line cards, Inphi’s PHY offerings will enable and lead that transition.”

“Video, rich IP content, streaming media, and bandwidth-hungry mobile and cloud-based enterprise apps are driving massive upgrades of datacenter and service provider networks. With fat pipes needed to accommodate the tsunami of data generated by these applications, the demand for 100GbE is in the here and now,” said John D'Ambrosia, chair, Ethernet Alliance and past chair, IEEE 802.3ba 40G/100G Ethernet Task Force. “Today’s announcement from Inphi is an important step in allowing system OEMs and optical module vendors to build next generation 100GbE systems that are both 802.3ba-compliant and key to 100GbE’s success in the market.”

According to Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst at The Linley Group, “We are expecting strong growth in the 100GbE market, especially in the enterprise and data center segments, with the advent of smaller form factor, lower power 100G optical modules. When coupled with Inphi’s low-power, highly integrated CMOS 100G PHY products, the market’s move to high-density 100G systems will become a reality.”  

iPHY 100GbE CMOS PHY Products Now Sampling

The iPHY IN112510 is a single-chip, low-power PHY for 10:4 gearbox applications for 100GbE and OTU4 high-density 100G line cards with 25-28 Gbps electrical interfaces. Other technical features include:

• Supports 100G BASE-LR4/ER4 and OTU4 28 Gbps operation for OTL4.4
• Optimized for extremely low-latency to allow use in ultra low latency applications
• Programmable transmit and adaptive receive equalization on all SerDes interfaces with fine granularity and control which allow performance to surpass IEEE CAUI, CEI-11G SR and  CEI-28G VSR specifications
• Numerous self-test and loopback modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• Eye-scan and monitor on all SerDes receiver interfaces for link margin and stress testing in a lab or production test environment
• Innovative package design that allows denser line cards
• Optimizations for next generation CFP2-based line card designs
• Single-chip low power solution that allows next generation optimized CFP modules

The iPHY IN012525 is a low-power CDR for 100GbE and OTU4 next generation 100G modules. This CDR features:

• Supports 100G BASE-LR4/ER4 and OTU4 28Gbps operation
• Programmable transmit and adaptive receive equalization on all SerDes interfaces with fine granularity and control which allow performance to surpass CEI-28G VSR specifications
• Self-test modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• Eye-scan and monitor on all SerDes receiver interfaces for link margin and stress testing in a lab or production test environment
• Optimizations for next generation CFP2 modules

Delivering Next Generation TIA/LIA for 100GbE Receivers

Inphi also announced today the new IN2841TA, a transimpedance amplifier (TIA)/limiting amplifier (LIA) for 100GbE receivers (see announcement here), Interoperable with Inphi’s iPHY 100GbE CMOS SerDes solutions, the Inphi IN2841TA offers the lowest power, best sensitivity, and highest overload. Together, the IN2841TA and iPHY CMOS SerDes create a platform solution for 100GbE CFP and CFP2 modules.

Come See Us at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2011

Inphi will showcase its latest next generation products in its Booth #1732 at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland on September 19-21, 2011.

About Inphi

Inphi Corporation is a leading provider of high-speed analog semiconductor solutions for the communications and computing markets, providing high signal integrity at leading-edge data speeds that are designed to address bandwidth bottlenecks in networks, minimize latency in computing environments and enable the rollout of next generation communications infrastructure. Inphi’s solutions provide a vital interface between analog signals and digital information in high-performance systems, such as telecommunications transport systems, enterprise networking equipment, enterprise and data center servers, storage platforms, test and measurement equipment and military systems. To learn more about Inphi, visit www.inphi.com.