LAS VEGAS, NV -- Redback Networks Inc. http://www.redback.com is half way to completing the development of the ASICs it acquired when it bought Siara Systems, Light Reading has learned.

Rumors that Siara’s ASICs (application specificintegrated circuits) don’t work are unfounded, and abeta version of the product is now being tested bythree carriers, according to a Light Readingsource.

That’s significant news. Ever since Redback boughtSiara for $4.3 billion, it has been dogged by rumors ofASIC problems. The industry scuttlebutt had it thatthe product would not ship until 2001.

However, according to a source close to the customer trials,Siara is half way to completing its ASIC development.Siara is said to be working on six ASICS. Three handleTDM functions, the rest perform packet processing. The source says that Siara has completed three of the ASICsalready, and has beta versions of the productincorporating the silicon in trials with threeservice providers – one of which is Qwest http://www.qwest.com.



The description of the ASICs (three for TDM, three for packet processes) also provides a clue as to the function that the product will serve in carrier networks. Originally, Siara positioned it as a God box –-with a slew of IP, ATM, DWDM, and Sonet capabilities.It now appears that Siara is focusing on IP overSonet.

Progress on its ASICs is good news for Redback, but it could beextremely bad news for its many competitors in themulti-service provisioning platform market (seeSonet Goes POP).

Many of them, including Chromatis Networks Inc.http://www.chromatis.com and Geyser Networks Inc. http://www.geysernetworks.com, are basing theirproducts on FPGA (field programmable gate arrays)rather than harder to develop ASICs. FPGAs offer fastertime to market, but provide lower levels ofperformance than ASIC-based products. By putting somuch of its products’ functionality into customsilicon, Redback should be able to trounce its FPGAcompetition in terms of performance.

Redback declined to comment.

By Stephen Saunders, US Editor, Light Reading http://www.lightreading.com