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The new KS8695 gateway solution from Micrel Semiconductor
includes several hardware accelerations and optimizations to offload
CPU utilization to enhance performance. Included are a protocol
engine and three DMA engines with FIFO buffers. The protocol engine
speeds up network protocol applications such as NAT, the most common
SOHO gateway protocol for Internet sharing. The DMA engines and
FIFO buffers increase the data traffic efficiency among the WAN
port, CPU, and LAN ports.
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The KS8695 is the latest addition to the company's Ethernet product
family for small office/home office (SOHO) and residential gateway, networking,
wireless LAN, and fiber-to-the-home Customer Premise Equipment (CPE)
applications. The device is a multi-port gateway-on-a-chip supported
by software and tools said to provide a complete hardware and software
solution for ODM/OEM customers.
With the introduction of the KS8695, Micrel
says it is the first company to successfully integrate five-port fast
Ethernet transceivers, MACs,
switch controller, and on-chip frame buffer memory with a high-performance
ARM922T core into one solution.
According to the company, the fast-growing
SOHO and home broadband gateway markets are demanding a highly integrated
SoC solution that enables users
to develop cost-competitive products. "The KS8695 provides performance
headroom for value-added differentiations such as Firewall, VPN, or routing
speed," says Dr. Tian Liou, vice president and general manager for
Micrel-Kendin Operations.
"Micrel-Kendin was the first to introduce an integrated five-port
Ethernet switch for the gateway market. Following on the heels of generations
of switch and transceiver products and shipments of more than 70 million
Fast Ethernet ports, the KS8695 represents a new plateau of integrated
silicon solution," he continues.
Micrel says its KS8695 platform
enables OEM/ODM customers to provide up to six times the routing performance
of a typical existing gateway
product.
It also offers the following features:
- A 166-MHz 32-bit ARM922T(R) CPU
core with a memory-management-unit (MMU).
- Five-port Ethernet managed
switch, on-chip frame buffers, and five low-power mixed-signal 10/100
transceivers
for WAN port Internet sharing and
LAN switching at wire speed.
- The WAN port connection supports xDSL, cable modem,
wireless, and fiber. All five transceivers support Auto MDI/MDIX to
detect and support crossover
cable.
- PCMCIA and MII interfaces for wireless LAN 802.11 and its variants
(802.11b/a/g) to enable combo wireline and wireless LAN router products.
- A
variety of hardware accelerations and optimizations to offload CPU
utilization to enhance performance.
Typical applications include SOHO
and residential gateways for broadband access sharing, firewall or
VPN (Virtual Private Network) security
appliances, and combo wireline and wireless LAN gateways. Additionally,
the KS8695
can address VoIP gateway or Fiber-to-the-Home CPE applications.
This
information is provided by Micrel Semiconductor, San Jose, CA, U.S. |
