QLogic To Use Intel XPAK Optical Transceiver In New Fibre Channel Stackable Switch

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2003 - QLogic Corp. has chosen the Intel® TXN17209 Multi-Mode XPAK Optical Transceiver to provide 10 Gigabit per second (Gbps) connectivity for the QLogic SANbox 5200*, the storage industry's first Fibre Channel stackable switch, which supports storage traffic at up to 10 Gbps.

Designed specifically for high-performance enterprise applications, the Intel TXN17209 optical transceiver uses multi-mode technology to deliver 10 Gbps Ethernet and 10 Gbps Fibre Channel transport for enterprise applications such as the QLogic SANbox 5200 at half of the cost, a third less power consumption and in one-third the size of earlier solutions.

The QLogic SANbox 5200 stackable switch is a 20-port Fibre Channel switch that features 16 ports running at 2 Gbps and four ports running at 10 Gbps in a slim 1U form factor. The four 10 Gbps ports use Intel TXN17209 optical transceivers to provide a high-speed uplink of aggregated 2 Gbps data streams.

"Customers for our new stackable switches need a high-speed dedicated stack interconnect to eliminate the loss of user ports for interswitch links," said Frank Berry, vice president of marketing for QLogic Corporation. "The Intel TXN17209 optical transceiver provides a low power, low cost 10 Gigabit solution in a space-saving XPAK form factor that enabled us to pack more capacity into the SANbox 5200."

Intel co-founded the XPAK multi-source agreement (MSA) to address the needs of short-reach 10 Gbps connectivity in cost-constrained enterprise applications. MSAs define electrical interfaces, physical characteristics, signaling schemes and other essential characteristics that enable companies to provide system OEMs with a reliable supply of interoperable products.

The Intel TXN17209 XPAK Multi-mode XPAK Optical Transceiver offers single-side mounting, less than a four-square-inch footprint and only 3.5 Watts of power consumption, enabling high port density in switches and placement on PCI network interface cards (NICs). It is hot-pluggable and includes a digital management interface allowing for field configuration, easy setup and remote troubleshooting. With its industry-standard XAUI 4-bit parallel electrical interface, the transceiver connects directly to readily available Ethernet and Fibre Channel ICs.

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