Gennum Producing 16Gb FC Module Chipset

Gennum Corporation, in optical, analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions, launched into production an 16G FC module chipset which is also compatible with existing FC applications, including 4-8G FC and 10G FCoE.

The 4-16G multi-rate module IC solution chipset is comprised of two Gennum products: the GN2017 and the GN1068.

The GN2017 transceiver is a dual CDR (clock and data recovery) with integrated VCSEL driver and limiting amplifier, which addresses signal integrity issues at 14Gb/s speeds, the data rate adopted for 16G FC.

The GN1068 is a rate-selectable TIA (transimpedance amplifier) offering parametric performance at 14Gb/s with the low power consumption.

Driven by the increasing bandwidth and capacity requirements imposed on switching technology by cloud computing, FC networks are being quickly forced into doubling their line rates while improving their cost and power efficiency.

Gennum’s combination of a dual CDR transceiver solution with a low power TIA further bolsters FC networks as the preferred conduit for linking virtual servers to storage at 14Gb/s line rates, allowing customers to upgrade the speed of their switching networks while remaining compatible with existing protocols.

"Gennum has once again proven its leadership by responding to the industry’s complex dual requirements for increased performance at reduced cost and power by designing a highly integrated chipset with best-in-class performance," said Gary Beauchamp, Senior Vice President, Mixed Signal and Optical Products at Gennum. "Gennum’s demonstrated ability to design for high-volume manufacturability allows customers to continue to rely on us to provide proven, reliable products for critical connections between virtualized datacenters."

The GN2017 is compliant with the FC-PI-5 standard for fiber optic links and also supports FC over Ethernet and legacy FC rates, so that a single module can be designed to support multiple standards. It is a 14Gb/s device that lowers the total BOM cost by integrating the limiting amplifier, VCSEL driver and dual CDRs into a single chip. The chip addresses the SFP+ module space and power requirements with a small 5mm x 5mm 32-pin QFN package, and enables modules with less than 1W power consumption.

The GN1068 features 90mW of power consumption under typical conditions, making it the lowest power >10Gb/s TIA available on the market. It features on-chip bandwidth selection allowing for versatility across multiple Ethernet and FC applications, ranging from 4-14Gb/s.

Based on existing Gennum TIA’s with over 44 million devices sold, the GN1068’s low input noise and high gain give sensitivity performance while excluding crosstalk and power supply noise.

The GN1068 TIA and GN2017 transceiver chips are in production, with the TIA available in bare-die format and the transceiver chip available in a 5x5mm QFN package.