Inphi Announces Vega™ 16nm PAM4 DSP for Cloud and Enterprise Data Center Systems

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 28, 2017 -- Inphi Corporation (NYSE:IPHI), a leading provider of high-speed data movement interconnects, today announced the new Vega™ family of low power 50/100/200/400G PAM4 Gearbox and Retimer DSPs for system line cards – the latest addition to the company’s PAM4 technology portfolio.  Leveraging Inphi’s industry-leading DSP-based PAM4, the new Gearbox and Retimer DSPs expand bandwidth capacity of next generation networks, delivering accelerated connectivity for wired network infrastructure at cloud-scale data centers, enterprise, and service providers.

The existing and upcoming megatrends of cloud services, Big Data, transition to 5G wireless, AI chatbots, Augmented and Virtual Reality, are causing a data and traffic explosion that continues to drive the insatiable need for unlimited bandwidth. There is a clear need to increase the speed of the interconnect pipes, within and between data centers, and to deliver low cost, high-speed 50/100/200/400G interconnects supported by smaller form factor modules. The Inphi PAM4 Gearbox and Retimers deliver best-in-class performance, while providing new levels of power efficiency and speed required for hyper-scale data centers.

The foundation of the Inphi 16nm PAM4 Gearbox and Retimers is a highly configurable DSP Engine that is based on three generations of proven silicon and can be targeted to multiple different performance oriented applications with industry leading power efficiency.  The PAM4 Gearbox and Retimers support next generation QSFP, QSFP-DD, OSFP and CFP8 optical modules and serve as the external device needed to drive the channels in the Retimer applications or as a gearbox in rate-mismatched applications on highly dense system line cards. Earlier this year, Innovium and Inphi announced a single switch chip based reference design solution that will enable system vendors to develop the industry’s first single switch system for 12.8Tbps (128 X 100GbE) QSFP28 deployments. Inphi’s PAM4 Gearbox and Retimer has also won multiple tier-1 OEM commitments for 50/100/200/400G line card interconnects.

“With data rates doubling from 28 Gbps to 56 Gbps per lane, to meet the rise in bandwidth demand, the next generation of networking infrastructure is adopting PAM4 signaling to rapidly build out their data center switching fabrics,” said Siddharth Sheth, SVP, Networking Interconnect, at Inphi. “As a pioneer of PAM4 based interconnects, Inphi continues to invest and innovate with new product solutions that help solve system architectural and signal integrity challenges, while enabling the ramp of 100G and beyond cloud interconnects.”

“The upcoming availability of 50G PAM I/O switch silicon combined with the explosive adoption of next generation higher speed optics, requires an innovative solution to enable a successful PAM4 ecosystem,” said Seamus Crehan, president and founder, Crehan Research, Inc. “Inphi’s Vega portfolio addresses these demands by bridging system line cards to multi-rate optics from 50G to 400G, helping the industry move to terabit cloud optical interconnects.”

Vega™ Product Family:

• IN115050-LC02-15GC – 400G PAM4 Retimer and Gearbox
• IN115025-LC02-25GC – 400G PAM4 Gearbox

Other technical features include:

• InphiNity™ DSP Engine with a unique mixed-mode DSP architecture for high-performance, low power applications needing adaptability and configurability
• Enables support and interoperability for next generation 56 Gbps PAM4 I/O switches to current generation 10/25Gbps NRZ based I/Os such as QSFP optical modules
• Long-reach performance capable of compensating for > 30dB insertion loss on both the line and host interfaces at 56 Gbps
• IEEE 802.3bs compliant FEC capability, supporting multiple FEC options: KR4, KP4 and KR
• Enables low power with high-performance DSP-based equalization to address IEEE 802.3bs/cd 50/100/200/400GbE for backplane and copper cabling
• CDAUI-8 chip-to-module and chip-to-chip
• OIF 56G-LR-PAM4 for PCB and cabled backplane
• Numerous self-test and loopback modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• Test and PRBS pattern generator
• Full crossbar support
• Asynchronous and independent operation across SerDes lanes
• Eye-scan, samplers and monitors on all receiver interfaces for link margin and stress testing along with GUI and API routines for data and error analytics

About Inphi
Inphi Corporation is a leader in high-speed data movement interconnects. We move big data fast, throughout the globe, between data centers, and inside data centers. Inphi's expertise in signal integrity results in reliable data delivery, at high speeds, over a variety of distances. As data volumes ramp exponentially due to video streaming, social media, cloud-based services, and wireless infrastructure, the need for speed has never been greater. That's where we come in. Customers rely on Inphi's solutions to develop and build out the Service Provider and Cloud infrastructures, and data centers of tomorrow. To learn more about Inphi, visit www.inphi.com.

Inphi, the Inphi logo and Think fast are registered trademarks of Inphi Corporation. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Public Relations Contacts:
Kim Markle
Inphi
408-217-7329
[email protected]