Companies Create 12 Channel, 2Gb/s Fibre Channel Loop Switch

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. and Vixel Corp. announced the first product Vitesse will market under a joint agreement to develop and market Fibre Channel Loop Switch integrated circuits for Storage Area Networks (SANs).

Vixel said it has leveraged significant Fibre Channel system design experience into a switch ASIC that is ideal for improving storage system performance. The companies said their partnership will bring that technology to the market as the VSC7192. The VSC7192 is a 12 Channel Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) switch IC that delivers advanced diagnostics and low latency for embedded applications, such as disk arrays, RAID subsystems and standalone switches. General availability for production volumes will be November 2001.

“The VSC7192 is working flawlessly and exceeding our performance expectations in customers’ systems and in our compatibility lab. We are very excited about delivering this exceptional technology into the SAN market,” said Jim McCluney, president and CEO of Vixel. “By working with Vitesse, Vixel is helping to deliver this valuable technology to the entire Fibre Channel community.”

“Our disk array and RAID customers demand more performance in loop environments and advanced diagnostics that easily identify misbehaving components reliably. The VSC7192 satisfies both of these requirements in an integrated, easy-to-use solution,” said Bob Rumer, vice president of Storage Communications Products at Vitesse. “When combined with our Enclosure Management Solutions, customers can easily develop and deliver best-in-breed storage products.”

The VSC7192 is packaged in a 528-pin, 40mm enhanced PBGA and is available in quantities of 100. Limited samples are available now. The companies said production quantities will be available in the fourth quarter of 2001. The VSC7192 is priced at $210 in quantities of 1,000.