Stratix FPGAs and Other Altera Devices Help Power Marconi Flagship Product
Stratix, Mercury, APEX 20K, and HardCopy Devices Provide Compelling Solution For Next-Generation IP and Multiservice Switch Router
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Altera Corporation today announced that Marconi's flagship product, the BXR(R)-48000, relies on a wide range of Altera devices, including the Stratix(TM), APEX(TM) 20K and Mercury(TM) field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), to help manage information streams at extremely high rates of throughput over any transport infrastructure. The industry-leading capabilities of the BXR-48000 will enable service providers to manage their voice, video, and data traffic with greater efficiency, offer new differentiated Internet protocol (IP) services while protecting legacy revenue streams, increase network reliability, and reduce network operating expenses.
"Marconi set out to design a next-generation product that would help service providers define a clear return on investment as they evolve their networks to meet rising levels of mission-critical voice, video, and data traffic," said Tom Murray, vice president of marketing for Marconi's Broadband Routing and Switching group, which developed the BXR-48000. "Altera helped us deliver the most intelligent, high-capacity switch-router in the industry with unprecedented versatility by providing Stratix FPGAs and other devices with the performance and cost savings that we needed to bring the BXR-48000 to market, with the features and price that service providers require."
The high-performance and generous memory resources of Stratix, APEX 20K, and Mercury FPGAs supplement the Marconi-designed and -developed ASICs in the BXR-48000 and provided Marconi with important options that sped development of the world's first truly protocol- and payload-agnostic switch-router. The availability of a risk-free conversion path from FPGAs to HardCopy(TM) devices further enhances Altera's solution for Marconi by lowering volume production costs of the BXR-48000.
"Many aspects of the BXR-48000 expand the frontier of technological achievement for high-capacity switch-routers and Altera helped us to achieve our goals," said Dave Blakeney, vice president of engineering for Marconi's Broadband Routing and Switching group. "For example, we are pushing the technological envelope with an Altera FPGA that communicates with a 128-bit high-speed transceiver logic (HSTL) bus at 200 MHz. Our development team determined that Altera FPGAs were the only devices that could perform these tasks, given that they combine significant embedded memory with exceptional speed."
"Marconi's choice of Altera products to implement mission-critical functions in the BXR-48000 underscores the value of our solutions in industry- leading, bandwidth-intensive applications," said Don Faria, senior vice president of the Communications and Emerging Accounts Applications business group at Altera. "By meeting Marconi's demanding requirements for performance, reliability, and value, Altera demonstrates its ability to meet the high standards required to drive efficiencies into the supply chain for the world's communications networks."
About Stratix Devices
Stratix devices are based on a 1.5-V, 0.13-um all-layer-copper SRAM process, with densities ranging from 10,570 to 114,140 logic elements (LEs) and up to 10 Mbits of RAM. Stratix devices offer up to 28 digital signal processing (DSP) blocks with up to 224 embedded multipliers, optimized for DSP applications that require intensive data processing. Stratix devices support various differential I/O electrical standards such as the LVDS, LVPECL, PCML, and HyperTransport(TM) standards as well as high-speed interfaces including the UTOPIA IV, SPI-4 Phase 2, SFI-4, 10G Ethernet XSBI, RapidIO(TM), HyperTransport, and other interfaces. Stratix devices also offer a complete clock management solution with their hierarchical clock structure and up to 12 phase-locked loops (PLLs). For more information about the Stratix device family, visit http://www.altera.com/stratix.
About HardCopy Devices
HardCopy devices are a low-risk, cost-effective alternative to ASICs for high-volume production where time-to-market is critical. Through a combination of proprietary silicon design and seamless migration processes, Altera helps customers move from a programmable solution to a reduced-cost, custom implementation of their design. Compared to other alternatives, HardCopy devices help customers move their products from prototype to high- volume production faster while minimizing additional verification and qualification work. For more information about HardCopy devices, visit http://www.altera.com/hardcopy.
About Altera
Altera Corporation is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high- value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at http://www.altera.com/.
About Marconi plc
Marconi plc is a global telecommunications equipment and solutions company headquartered in London. The company's core business is the provision of innovative and reliable optical networks, broadband routing and switching and broadband access technologies and services. The company's aim is to help fixed and mobile telecommunications operators worldwide reduce costs and increase revenues.
The company's customer base includes many of the world's largest telecommunications operators. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol MONI. Additional information about Marconi can be found at http://www.marconi.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to products, partners, customers, future growth and other matters. Please refer to the Form 20-F report and Form 6-K reports filed by Marconi plc with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements.
NOTE: Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations, and all other words that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. BXR is a trademark of Marconi plc. HyperTransport is a trademark of the HyperTransport Consortium. RapidIO is a trademark of the RapidIO Trade Association. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holders.
Editor Contacts:
Martin S. Won Geof Becker
Altera Corporation Marconi plc
408-544-6397 724-742-6377
newsroom@altera.com geof.becker@marconi.com
CONTACT: Martin S. Won of Altera Corporation, +1-408-544-6397, or
newsroom@altera.com; or Geof Becker of Marconi plc, +1-724-742-6377, or
geof.becker@marconi.com
Web site: http://www.marconi.com/
Web site: http://www.altera.com/
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