Zarlink Semiconductor and Marvell have developed a synchronous Ethernet solution for supporting real-time services over packet-based networks.
The companies said network synchronization is a key issue for carriers in the drive towards network convergence. For example, economical cellular backhaul over IP networks requires synchronization to allow legacy applications such as voice and fax to function properly. As high-growth applications such as YouTube and AOL Video gain popularity, these applications need to co-exist alongside critical time-sensitive services on IP backhaul networks. To guarantee performance, carriers must currently operate a number of different networks and deploy costly external mechanisms to ensure synchronization.
Zarlink and Marvell are offering a solution the focuses on “synchronous Ethernet,” allowing carriers to support real-time services over asynchronous Ethernet networks. In synchronous Ethernet operation, each piece of network equipment must have synchronized timing capabilities.
To meet this requirement, the companies have successfully completed interoperability testing demonstrating that Zarlink’s ZL 30120 analog/digital PLL can synchronize a Marvell 88E1145 Ethernet physical layer device to a telecom networking timing reference, while generating a very low jitter (picoseconds) Ethernet clock. This will enable developers of Ethernet switching and routing platforms to provide complete end-to-end solutions for next-generation IP networks.
An application note on Zarlink-Marvell synchronous Ethernet interoperability testing is available on the company’s website.
http://assets.zarlink.com/AN/ZLAN_211_AppNote_Jan07.pdfhttp://timing.zarlink.com/
