Introduction to mainstream Gigabit hybrid switch chips

It is very helpful to know about the switch chip. Here we mainly introduce the mainstream g/Gigabit mixed switch chips. According to the Linely group's market research report, Global Gigabit Ethernet will exceed the shipment of Fast Ethernet products this year.

At present, the proportion of M switch shipments in the domestic market is still dominant. However, in line with the technological development trend, each switch chip company has launched a m transitional product. In this way, the customer's requirements for gigabit products and product prices are resolved! Next, we will analyze in depth the design scheme of the Mbit/s hybrid switch used on the market:

1. Realtek

As a chip supplier in the low-end network market, Realtek has launched a 24-port m + 2G product. The chip model of Realtek's Mbit/s/hybrid switch solution is RTL8326 (MAC) + RTL82088 port Mbit/s PHY) + 2 port Gigabit PHY. Realtek uses the MAC media control chip and the PHY Physical Layer Chip.

RTL8326 is a MAC media control chip. RTL8208 is an eight-port PHY Physical Layer Chip. RTL8326 integrates the 2.5 M-bit SSRAM cache for data packet storage and forwarding. The cache size has a great impact on the data processing capability of the switch! The depth of the RTL8326 MAC address table is 8 K, and the exchange capability of the entire product is 8.8 Gbps. The process of the chip is 0.18um.

2. VIA Company

We are very familiar with. This company competes with Intel in the motherboard field. With years of experience in the chipset industry, Weisheng has been exploring the data communication field in recent years. The Mbit/Ge hybrid switch is the main product of Weisheng. The chip model of the Mbit/s/Gigabit hybrid exchange solution of Weisheng company is VT6526 + vt6379s8 port Mbit/s PHY) + 2 Gbit/s PHY.

Wei Sheng also uses MAC media control chip) and PHY Physical Layer Chip) separated architecture. VT6526 is a MAC media control chip), VT6108S is an 8-port mb phy Physical Layer Chip), and gigabit PHY is a product of other companies. VT6526 integrates a 4 M bit cache for data packet storage and forwarding. The depth of the VT6526 MAC address table is 4 K. The exchange capability of the entire product is 8.8 Gbps. The chip process adopts the 0.25um process.

3. Broadcom

As a leader in the data communication chip industry, Broadcom launched a Mbit/s/hybrid switch chip solution that integrated MAC and PHY into the same chip a few years ago. The chip's network compatibility, stability, and performance specifications exceed those of other companies. According to different market positioning, Broadcom has released three chips for the Mbit/s/Gigabit hybrid switch solution:

1) low-end market-oriented BCM5312MAC media control chip) + BCM5248U8 port mb phy) + B5011A Single Port Gigabit PHY) chip solution. BCM5312 integrates a 4 M bit cache for data packet storage and forwarding. The depth of the BCM5312 MAC address table is 4 K. The exchange capability of the entire product is 8.8 Gbps. The process of the switch chip is 0.18um.

2) BCM5380 chip for medium and high-end markets. The BCM5380 chip is a high-integration chip. Each chip is integrated with eight hundred megabytes of PHY, One gigabit PHY, one Serdes interface, and two GMII interfaces. The entire solution uses three BCM5380 chips to form up to 24 ports, Mbps, 6 electrical ports, 1 Gigabit, and 3 gigabit optical fiber products.

At present, the manufacturers that use this solution on the market are limited, mainly because of the chip price. However, products using this solution provide customers with sufficient expansion space. For example: pulian technology's TL-SL3428 Gigabit Management Switch, it uses the BCM5380 switch chip solution. The product specification is management-type 24-port m + 2 electrical ports Gigabit + 2 optical fiber Gigabit slots. Because the four Gigabit interfaces are independent of each other, customers can have more options. Visida network VCT and SpeedNetwoks are two other vendors in China that provide the BCM5380 solution, their 5280GP and sp2404 G are both common 24-port m + 2 electrical ports, 1g + 2 fiber-optic Gigabit slots.

In general, BCM5380 solution costs a lot, and the price of the corresponding products on the market is also high! The BCM5380 solution integrates 12 M bit cache for data packet storage and forwarding, And the MAC address table depth is 4 K. The exchange capability of the entire product is 16.8 Gbps. The process of the chip is 0.13um.

3) The BCM5324 chip for the smart market is the world's first switch chip integrated with 24-port MB of PHY, with a higher integration level and better performance. BCM5324 supports all the features required by L2 managed switches. The solution aims to meet and exceed the needs of small and medium-sized enterprise customers for higher port density, better performance, and more features! The BCM5324 solution integrates a 4 M bit cache for data packet storage and forwarding. The depth of the MAC address table is 4 K. The exchange capability of the entire product is 8.8 Gbps. The process of the switch chip is 0.13um.

Through the comparison above, the product specifications of each company are basically the same on the low-end products, but there are great differences in product refinement. From the current market situation, the transition from a hundred megabytes to a gigabit standard is a significant trend. The sales share of 24 + 2G switch products in the market will gradually expand. End users can select products based on their own needs!