Mindspeed Technologies M21170 crosspoint switch

Mindspeed Technologies has released what it claims is the world’s first 288x288 asynchronous non-blocking crosspoint switch.

The M21170 provides 82,944 switching paths in a single, monolithic integrated circuit and will enable a new generation of larger serial data switches, such as those used by broadcast video and optical transport networks.

The most common switching devices used in large routers to date have been 144x144 crosspoint switches. The M21170 uses a single chip to create a 288x288 non-blocking matrix for a router’s switching core, replacing four cascaded 144x144 crosspoints required to achieve the same number of inputs and outputs.

This reduces the size, cost and complexity of today’s largest switchers.

Each switching path in the M21170 can operate independently at any data rate of up to 3.2 Gbps, allowing for multi-rate routing and switching in a single device. The crosspoint also uses signal-conditioning to compensate for signal losses that typically accumulate across the extended trace lengths of very large systems.