Carrier Ethernet: Vitesse, Zarlink Deliver IEEE 1588v2 Synchronization and Timing Technology
Vitesse Semiconductor, a provider of semiconductor solutions for carrier and enterprise networks, has formed a partnership with Zarlink Semiconductor (News - Alert) to deliver a joint reference design that delivers synchronization required for next-generation carrier networks.
Based on Vitesse’s VSC8574 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) PHY transceiver and Zarlink’s ZL30143 Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) dual channel system synchronizer, the synchronization technology enables carriers to deliver scalable, higher bandwidth communication services over packet-based networks. Further it speeds development time of next-generation network products.
Carriers are forced upgrade legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based platforms to lower-cost packet-based networks. The reference gives equipment manufacturers and service providers a seamless upgrade path to integrate precise timing features required to deliver advanced communication services over lower-cost packet networks, said Brian Jaroszewski, senior product manager at Vitesse, in a statement.
“Complemented by our broad Carrier Ethernet portfolio of GE, 10GE and OTN PHY devices with physical layer IEEE 1588v2 support, Vitesse offers full network synchronization support sufficient for WiMAX and LTE (News - Alert) backhaul, as well as other timing critical applications,” Jaroszewski added.
Unlike TDM networks, packet-based networks do not carry clock synchronization information unless augmented with a means to do so, so precision timing synchronization is critical for service providers, in order to support higher bandwidth time-critical services in wireless backhaul, business services, data center and smart grid applications in the newer networks.
The Vitesse PHY provides both primary and secondary recovered clock outputs as clock references to Zarlink’s ZL30143 in the synchronous timing system to provide a low jitter Synchronous Ethernet solution.
The combined solution is compliant with ITU-T Recommendation G.8262 for wireless base stations, radio network controllers, gateways, aggregation and transmission equipment, and routers while reducing design complexity.
“Packet-based Ethernet technologies enable carriers to cost-effectively scale bandwidth to meet the demands of new mobile multimedia applications,” said Jamileh Davoudi, product marketing manager with Zarlink’s Timing and Synchronization product line, in a statement.
“Vitesse and Zarlink have combined our Synchronous Ethernet timing expertise to provide manufacturers with an easy-to-implement solution to support multiple services over a single network,” Davoudi added. “In addition, this reference design allows the flexibility to upgrade designs to IEEE (News - Alert) 1588v2 for wireless technologies, such as WCDMA-TDD, CDMA2000 and Mobile WiMAX.”
The reference design, known as the VSC8574EV, is available immediately.
Back in July, Vitesse announced VSC7224, a multi-protocol, adaptive quad channel extender for use in a wide variety of network equipment targeting support for next-generation protocols such as 10G/40G/100G Ethernet, Infiniband FDR, and 16G Fibre Channel.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Carrie Schmelkin