Industry Insider
the need for pre-integrated, optimized and validated reference designs addressing enterprise and SMB/home markets. Enterprise Class Reference Designs To enable tightly integrated design with seamless interoperability, Broadcom has licensed its HiGig protocol to Cavium Networks. The HiGig protocol enhances Ethernet switching beyond industry standards with features such as stacking and QoS. Cavium Networks recently introduced Octeon processors and follow-on processors with 10 Gigabit interfaces integrate hardware acceleration that supports HiGig protocol and enable intelligent switching applications. Additionally, Broadcom will utilize Cavium Octeon processors in its enterprise reference designs as a control plane and services processor, supporting the complete portfolio of StrataXGS Ethernet switches, which are industry-leading, widely deployed merchant silicon switching solutions. SMB/Home Reference Designs Broadcom is also utilizing Cavium Octeon processors in its SMB switching reference designs as a gateway host processor combined with Broadcom’s RoboSwitch Gigabit Ethernet Switches and Fastpath networking software.
Curtiss-Wright and Sigma Partner to Integrate Physical Layer Switches and Test Automation
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing and Sigma Technologies & Resources have announced that they have partnered to offer integrated physical layer switch and test automation software solutions for enterprise network lab automation applications. Sigma announced that it has developed software libraries to integrate its SigmationTF test automation software with Curtiss-Wright’s GLX family of switches, includ-
ing the GLX4000 series of nonblocking, multi-protocol physical layer switches. Sigma’s SigmationTF software is a comprehensive test automation framework designed for testing TCP/IP-based network products. It provides automated regression test methodologies to free test engineers from doing costly, time-consuming and error-prone manual testing. SigmationTF automates the large number of repetitive tests typically required during the test phase of the product life cycle, and later, the regression tests needed as software versions evolve. The GLX4000 can support up to 288 ports and up to 2.5 Tb/s in switching capacity. The company offers SFP- and XFP-based interface cards for flexibility and support of a wide range of serial digital protocols including 1/2/4 Fibre Channel, 10G Ethernet, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, SONET and Firewire.
New SCOPE Profiles Cover AdvancedMC and MicroTCA
The SCOPE Alliance recently announced the availability of the following two new documents: • AdvancedMC Profile, version 1.0 • MicroTCA Profile, version 1.0. These profiles describe the preferred implementation options for their respective technologies. They represent the consensus view of the SCOPE Alliance, (which consists of seven major network equipment providers and many suppliers of standard platform elements). SCOPE hopes that by providing implementation guidance in the form of these profiles, it can reduce the variability that currently exists in AdvancedMC and MicroTCA elements, improve interoperability and facilitate high-volume ecosystems.
Each profile has an overview, a set of definitions and a profile table describing SCOPE’s preferred implementation requirements. There are also some gaps identified. A gap is a technical issue that in SCOPE’s view could benefit from some additional refinement in the AdvancedMC or MicroTCA specifications. SCOPE believes that these profiles could serve as guidelines for many different users of the PICMG specifications. Suppliers of elements (like a chassis, modules, or software) may find the profiles to be a good source of consensus marketing requirements. Network equipment providers may use these profiles as guidelines as they refine their platform architectures and prepare RFXs for suppliers. Network operators may find the profiles valuable as they plan the capabilities of their network elements. The documents can be found at: www.picmgeu.org/pages/t_interesting_articles.htm.
SDR Forum Launches Task Group on Transceiver Subsystem Interfaces
The Software Defined Radio Forum has announced the launch of a worldwide task group on transceiver subsystem interfaces (TSI). Created under the umbrella of the SDR Forum Technical Committee, the new task group will be dedicated to facilitating industry convergence on open specifications supporting the interface between the radio frequency (RF) front end and baseband processing/modem subsystems in reconfigurable radio products. The TSI task group’s initial objective will be to expand upon the work done by the European End-to-End Reconfigurability program and other related efforts to define standard transceiver application programming interfaces (API) for use by radio equipment manufacturers in the commercial, public safety and
defense domains. These APIs will act as an abstraction layer for the transceiver hardware, facilitating the insertion of new or updated physical-layer waveform applications and air interface standards while the radio is in operation and, at the same time, improving the portability of these applications and standards from radio to radio. As a part of this effort, the TSI task group will—to ensure support—evaluate the proposed transceiver API against the various lower-level transceiver interface specifications and standards that have been developed for the commercial and defense wireless markets over the past several years. This evaluation will include the Reference Point 3 specification developed under the OBSAI (Open Base Station Architecture Initiative), the DigRF Interface specification under development by the MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) Alliance, the VITA Radio Transport draft standard developed by the VITA Standards Organization as VITA 49, and the CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface). One important outcome of this activity will be the revised submission of the transceiver API in response to the OMG’s (Object Management Group) Digital IF request-forproposal for additional follow-on standardization.
January 2008
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