Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) has shifted its research and development to focus on access networks, delaying some of the plans for its next generation of framers.

"We've shifted our R&D away from 10-Gig to develop a next-generation product for the access space," says Gahan Richardson, senior product marketing manager.

Of course, nearly every chip vendor and OEM is knitting an access strategy out of yesterday's frayed metro plan. But Cypress seems a bit more pessimistic than most, predicting that its 10-Gbit/s business won't hit good volumes until 2006 or 2007.

Better known as a provider of static random-access memory (SRAM) chips, Cypress has put heavy emphasis on communications chips in recent years. It's paid particular attention to features, such as virtual concatenation, that allow Sonet networks to carry Ethernet traffic more efficiently (see Making Sonet Ethernet-Friendly and Cypress Samples GFP Framer Chip).

Cypress's 10-Gbit/s efforts aren't dead, but they are slowing down. For example, the company's OC192 framers probably won't get virtual concatenation added until the second half of 2004, Richardson says (see Cypress Intros OC-192 Framer).

"It's not way out, but it won't allow me to get any design wins now," he notes.

Cypress's gloomy view of the 10-Gbit/s market doesn't seem to be shared by respondents to Light Reading's current Research Poll on 10-Gbit/s Ethernet developments. Take the poll yourself by clicking on this link.

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading