Transceiver Boosts Performance Of Internet Routers And Switches

Said to be the industry's highest performance transceiver chip, this new CMOS device transfers data at 3.125 Gbps and contains eight full-duplex channels for an aggregate bandwidth of 50 Gbps. The nPower BBT3800 IC reportedly uses one-third the power of other transceivers. The new device is expected to boost the performance of Internet systems by allowing the use of advanced serial backplanes to eliminate bottlenecks in Internet routers and terabit switches. The transceiver also increases the speed of the Internet by funneling data into multiple, high-speed optical links, such as OC-192.
Built from a patent pending CMOS technology called large amplitude differential logic (LADL), the BBT3800 achieves unusually low power consumption and very high serial transfer speeds. It can convert a 160-bit wide parallel backplane into 16 serial connections, each operating up to 3.125 Gbps.
The transceiver operates from two supplies, 1.8V and 2.5V, and consumes 1.6W (typical) total power, which translates to 200 mW per channel. The 8-channel BBT3800, packaged in a 676-pin BGA, is priced at $135 each/1,000. BBT3400, a four-channel version of the chip, is also available; it comes packaged in a 289-pin BGA costing $70.