Mysticom shifts focus from IP to standard products, rolls out new DSP-based transceivers

Mysticom shifts focus from IP to standard products, rolls out new DSP-based transceivers
By Semiconductor Business News
January 22, 2002 (4:17 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020122S0057

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- In a major shift from its intellectual-property (IP) core strategy, Mysticom Ltd. here entered the standard products business by rolling out a new line of chips, based on its patented digital signal processor (DSP) technology.

The first standard chip products from Mysticom include a separate family of transceivers for Gigabit Ethernet and Ten Gigabit Ethernet applications.

Previously, the company focused on developing and selling IP cores for Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet networks. "This is Mysticom's first move from being an IP-only company tobecoming an IC supplier," according to spokeswoman from the Mountain View-based company.

Mysticom "has taken the critical steps needed to transition from an IP-only company to an IC supplier," the spokeswoman said. "Having closed a recent round of funding totaling $28 million, the company is backed by a strong set of strategic and corporate investors," the spokeswoman said. < P> The company also has forged relationships with two silicon foundries--Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Executives from Mysticom believes it is ready to compete in the standard chip market. Its new competitors include Agere, Broadcom, Intel, Marvell, and others.

"Our knowledge of communication system architectures, coupled with our extensive background in complex DSP and mixed-signal integration, gives us a strong foundation for delivering the devices that our customers need," said David Almagor, president and CEO of Mysticom.

Its first standard product includes a 10-gigabit-per-second, physical-layer (PHY) device, which features world's lowest power and best bit error rate (BER). The MY3004 10G device reduces BER by two orders of magnitude, as compared to conventional transceivers, according to the company.

Geared for Ten Gigabit Ethernet, InfiniBand, or Fibre Channel applications, the MY3004 is a four-channel 3.125-Gbps serializer/dese rializer (SerDes) device that is compliant with the latest version of the IEEE 802.3ae 10G Ethernet specification.

The device also offers a selectable 8B/10B encoder/decoder. It consumes under 1.1 watt of power and only 200 milliwatts per channel.

The MY3004 is packaged in a small BGA package. The product will sample in March and is expected to go into volume production in 'Q2 2002. It will be priced at $85 in quantities of 1,000.

Mysticom also rolled out a Gigabit-Ethernet-over-copper transceiver. The new MY1001 complies with the 10BASE-T/100Base-TX/1000BASE-T standards. The device features a power consumption of 1.8 watts and operates over 140 meters of cable with the required bit error rate (BER).

The Mysticom MY1001 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver IC is housed in a 128-pin PQFP. It is sampling now and is expected to be available in volume production in Q2 2002. It will be priced at $20 in quantities of 1,000.