Mitel Packet Switch Chip Speeds Up IP Routing

[Ottawa, CANADA] Mitel Semiconductor,
a division of Mitel Corporation, has rolled out its DS313, a single
chip distributed switch for Layer two, three, and four packet LAN
forwarding and filtering.

The device, which includes 12 Fast Ethernet ports and one gigabit
port, operates at full wire-speed and includes a full suite of
advanced features such as enhanced Quality of Service (QoS), Layer
three routing, IP Multicast, protocol filtering, port mirroring, port
trunking, buffer management, and stacking.

The DS313 was designed by Vertex Networks, which was acquired by
Mitel in July 2000 to beef up Mitels switching and routing expertise.

The chip’s robust QoS capability, low latency, and high
frame-forwarding rate make it a strong choice for time critical data.

The need for high-availability networks is a key driver of LAN
switching growth, and Layer three switches are expected to account
for most of the revenue in this segment from 1999 to 2003.

Layer three shipments are forecasted to increase from nearly five
million ports and $3 billion in revenue in 1999 to more than 59
million ports and $11.4 billion in revenue in 2003.

“While most of our competitors only route 16 or 32 longest prefix IP
addresses, the DS313 is capable of routing over 6,000,” said Tim
Thompson, director of marketing at Mitel Semiconductor.

“The technologies integrated into the DS313, when combined with
Mitel’s existing products, provide a formidable solution for numerous
LAN and WAN specific applications, including remote access
concentrators and VoIP gateways.”