AdvancedTCA Accelerates Merchant Switch Fabrics

A Merchant Switch Fabric (MSF) is an ASSP that can be used to distribute and/ or direct any type of traffic from one port to any other port. Since it can handle any type of traffic, this makes it different than the GigE Switch Chips (GESCs) that have become so popular over the last few years. While GESCs can be used in GigE switches, once you add the myriad of other types of traffic the carriers need to handle, the plan goes right out the window. For the last decade or so, just about every major Network Equipment Provider (NEP) had been making its own internal fabric. Now, thanks to reduced R&D budgets, better SerDes technology and the very flexible AdvancedTCA platform, we expect to see MSFs finally come into their own. While they won’t spread to as many markets as once hoped, they will still grab over a million ports by 2008 and climb nicely in revenues over the next several years, from $47 million in 2003.

• TAM for ASIC and Merchant switch fabrics
• Standardized Backplane Interconnects (SBIs)
• SAM for just the MSFs
• Revenues for MSFs

• Average Sales Price (ASP) per port for MSFs
• TAM for ASIC and Merchant switch fabrics by fabric capacity

A detailed technical overview (including a special section on the AdvancedTCA), market overview, vendor profiles, and a market share analysis of the 2003 MSF revenues is also included.

Table
of Contents

• Executive Summary
  
  
  


• Methodology
  
  
  


• Introduction
  
  
  


• Technical Overview
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • SONET Technology
    Review
    
    
  
  
  • A Brief History
    of …
    
    
  
  
  • The First Generation
    of Switching Chips…
    
    
    
    
    
    • Crossbar
      Switches
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Protocol-Dependent
    Switches…
    
    
    
    
    
    • Shared
      Memory ATM Switches
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The Hybrid
    Approach
    
    
  
  
  • Standardized
    Chassis
    
    
    
    
    
    • CompactPCI
      
      
      
      
      
      
      • CompactPCI
        Packet Switching Backplane
        
        
      
      
      • CompactPCI
        Serial Mesh Backplane
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • AdvancedTCA
      
      
      
      
      
      
      • Backplane
        Options
        
        
      
      
      • Modularity
        for Networking Boards
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • CompactTCA
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Which Chassis
    Will Win?
    
    
  
  
  • MSFs as Part
    of the Puzzle…
    
    
  
  
  • Future Trends
    
    
    
    
    
    
    • Increased
      Queues & Memory
      
      
    
    
    • More Intelligence
      
      
      
    
    
    • Higher
      Speed SerDes
      
      
    
    
    • Standardized
      Backplane Links
      
      
    
    
    • Higher
      Densities
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Market Overview
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • The Worst is
    Over - For a While
    
    
  
  
  • Pros &
    Cons to MSFs
    
    
    
    
    
    • Cons
      
      
    
    
    • Pros
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The Infrastructure
    Revolution
    
    
    
    
    
    • The Shortcomings
      of Using SONET Rings to Carry Data
      
      
    
    
    • The Answer
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Forecast
  
  
  
  
  
  • Forecast Methodology
    
    
    
  
  
  • Market Shares
    for MSF Market
    
    
  
  
  • Total Available
    Market (TAM)
    
    
  
  
  • Standardized
    Back Planes
    
    
    
    
    
    • Shipments
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Merchant Switch
    Fabric Market
    
    
    
    
    
    • Shipments
      
      
      
    
    
    • Average
      Sale Prices (ASPs)
      
      
    
    
    • Revenues
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Vendor Profiles
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Companies not
    Profiled:
    
    
    
    
    
    • Erlang
      Technology
      
      
    
    
    • Dune Networks
      
      
      
    
    
    • Marvell
      
      
      
    
    
    • Paion
      
      
    
    
    • Sandburst
      
      
      
    
    
    • StarGen
      
      
      
    
    
    • Tau Networks
      
      
      
    
    
    • TranSwitch
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Vendor Comparisons
    
    
    
  
  
  • Agere
    
    
  
  
  • Applied Micro
    Circuits Corporation (AMCC)
    
    
  
  
  • Broadcom
    
    
  
  
  • IDT
    
    
  
  
  • Mindspeed
    
    
  
  
  • TeraChip Inc.
    
    
    
  
  
  • Vitesse
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Conclusion
  
  


• Appendix A:
  Glossary
  
  


• Appendix A:
  Glossary (con't)
  
  


• Appendix A:
  Glossary (con't)
  
  

List
of Tables

• Table 1. Summary
  of Forecast for the Merchant Switch Fabric Market (2003 - 2008) ($M)
  
  
  


• Table 2. Summary
  of Forecast for the Merchant Switch Fabric Market (2003 - 2008)
  
  


• Table 3. Speeds
  of the SONET and SDH Hierarchy
  
  


• Table 4. A Comparison
  of the Key Dimensions for PICMG 3.0 versus 2.0
  
  


• Table 5. Aggregate
  Backplane Capacities for a Full Mesh AdvancedTCA Backplane
  
  


• Table 6. Aggregate
  Backplane Capacities for a Dual Star AdvancedTCA Backplane
  
  


• Table 7. Standardized
  Chassis Revenue Forecast, 2004 - 2008 ($M)
  
  


• Table 8. Future
  Capacities for the AdvancedTCA Due to SerDes Improvements
  
  


• Table 9. Economic
  Analysis of NEPs Using an ASIC-based 640 Gbps Switch Fabric
  
  


• Table 10. Economic
  Analysis of NEPs Using an MSF-based 640 Gbps Switch Fabric
  
  


• Table 11. Comparison
  of Data Type Versus Infrastructure Needs
  
  


• Table 12. Order
  of Magnitude Yearly Revenue Potentials from Data Through an MSPP
  
  


• Table 13. Hourly
  Full-Duplex Data Consumption Rates for Popular Online Activities
  
  

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