CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (Pink Sheets: VTSS - News), a leader in advanced ICs for Carrier and Enterprise Ethernet networks, announced today the VSC3441, the industry’s first, multi-protocol, 6.375 Gigabit per second (Gbps) multi-rate Serialization/De-serialization (SerDes) transceiver device. As the most advanced, high-speed SerDes solution available today, Vitesse’s VSC3441 device is well suited for next-generation backplanes and communication equipment running multiple protocols, including Gigabit Ethernet, XAUI, 2xXAUI, Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA), Serial Rapid IO, Infiniband and PCI Express (PCIe).

The VSC3441 operates at selected data rates from 125 Mbps to 6.375 Gbps and incorporates advanced equalization to compensate for various impairments and losses encountered in copper cables, backplane traces and connectors. Further adding to the robust feature set of this transceiver is the unique combination of integrated technologies: SerDes, Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) and advanced signal equalization. The VSC3441 is also the first high-speed SerDes to incorporate Vitesse’s breakthrough VScope™ waveform viewing technology which enables a real-time oscilloscope view of the received data, thus providing telemetry of high-speed signals.

With Internet bandwidth growth averaging 40 percent per year, networking and storage equipment continues to evolve, creating the need for higher speed serial links to accommodate more bandwidth in backplanes, interconnects and cable links found throughout the network. The VSC3441 provides OEMs a significant new tool that allows them to serialize data to these higher rates for simplified transmission through legacy backplanes or cable interconnects. This is achieved by compensating for the signal path degradation which, in turn, improves the signal integrity performance of the transmission. The integrated VScope waveform viewing technology is then used by OEMs for real-time system diagnostics and remote monitoring functions in these applications. The result: a state-of-the-art signal integrity solution that extends the use of existing ASICs and FPGAs with slower speed interfaces.

“With over a decade of leadership in high-speed signal integrity, SerDes and CDR technologies, Vitesse is uniquely qualified to deliver this product,” said Juan Garza, product marketing manager for Signal Integrity devices at Vitesse. “By incorporating Vitesse’s patented VScope waveform viewing technology into high-speed links, this solution creates a new category for innovative SerDes technology that enables advanced levels of signal integrity quality and remote monitoring.”

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: VTSS)