Inphi Announces World's First 40/50/100/400 Gigabit Ethernet PAM4 IC Solutions for Cloud Interconnects

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 3, 2015) - Inphi Corporation (NYSE: IPHI), a leading provider of high-speed, mixed signal semiconductor solutions for the communications, computing and data center markets, today announced the availability of the industry's first, highly integrated, lowest power 4-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) chipset solutions for intra-data center and inter-data center cloud interconnects. Inphi announced a family of PAM4 PHY ICs for 40G (IN014020-XL), 50G (IN015050-SF), 100G (IN015025-CA), 400G (IN015025-CD) and a companion linear TIA (IN2860TA) that will enable platform solutions for multi-rate PAM4 interconnects. The foundation of the PAM4 PHY IC solutions is the highly configurable and adaptable InphiNity™ Core Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Engine and a media agnostic dual mode OmniConnect™ transmitter architecture that can be targeted to multiple different performance oriented applications for optical and copper based interconnects, while keeping a low power profile.

As the massive megatrends of cloud computing, Big Data, IoT, Social and Web2.0 continue to accelerate and drive the insatiable need for unlimited bandwidth, there is clear need to increase the speed of interconnect pipes while maintaining cloud economics and lowering carbon footprints. PAM4 modulation has now been recognized as the modulation scheme that will take the industry over the next wave of Ethernet deployments for optical and copper interconnects by doubling the bits per symbol at the same baud rate. By integrating multiple channels along with transmit and receive PAM4 and FEC functions on a single IC, Inphi is able to double the levels of integration available from existing PAM4 IC offerings and scale the solution across multiple rates.

"This is yet another industry first for Inphi as we continue to demonstrate technology and market leadership, now with the availability of our multi-rate PAM4 product chipset solutions," said Siddharth Sheth, Vice President, Networking Interconnect. "With multiple contributions on PAM4 technology in the IEEE and other industry MSAs and with the IEEE 400Gbps taskforce agreeing to use PAM4 for next- generation electrical and optical interfaces, Inphi has now proven that not only does the technology work, but can be productized and is indeed the right way forward to 40/50/100/400G and beyond."

According to Loring Wirbel, Senior Analyst at The Linley Group, "With the arrival of 100G QSFP28 optical modules and the availability of 3.2Tbps switch silicon, we expect 100G 1RU TOR switches to be deployed in cloud data centers starting early next year. When coupled with Inphi's low-power, highly integrated PAM4 PHY IC solutions, the market's move to high-density, lower cost 40/100G and next-generation 50/400G systems will become a reality. Inphi's solution is unique not only in the breadth of speeds addressed and provision of companion TIAs, but in its work with driver vendors to assure reference designs for all available physical media."

40/50/100/400G PAM4 PHY Products Production Ready, General Availability in Q4 15 (IN014020-XL, IN015050-SF, IN015025-CA, IN015025-CD)
Inphi's low-power PAM4 PHY ICs interface with host ASICs that have 10/20/25G NRZ and 56G PAM4 electrical interfaces while bridging to 20-28GBaud PAM4 optics and copper. Other technical features include:

• InphiNity™ Core DSP Engine with a unique mixed-mode DSP architecture for high performance, low power applications needing adaptability and configurability
• OmniConnect™ media agnostic dual mode transmitter architecture that supports a variety of media types including DAC cables, backplanes, silicon photonics, single-mode and multi-mode optics
• Multiple programmable FEC options with varying levels of pre-FEC BER performance for distances in excess of 10km for DCI inter-datacenter applications
• Numerous self-test and loopback modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• 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
• Innovative package design that allows denser line cards
• Optimizations for next-generation QSFP28-based modules and line card designs
• Single-chip low power solution that allows high scalability across Ethernet data rates

40/50/100/400G PAM4 TIA Now Sampling (IN2860TA)
The IN2860TA is a low-power linear 28GBaud TIA for 40/50/100/400G PAM4 modules. This TIA features:

• Wide dynamic range to meet the different performance and link requirements for 40/50/100/400G applications
• Excellent signal integrity necessary for PAM4 modulation schemes
• Adjustable bandwidth for optimization across multiple rates
• Low power and small form factor for next generation QSFP28-based modules

Come See Us at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC)
Inphi is showcasing its latest next-generation products in its booth #400 at ECOC 2015 in Valencia, Spain, on September 28-30, 2015.

About Inphi
Inphi Corporation is a leading provider of high-speed, mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the communications, computing and data center markets. Inphi's end-to-end data transport platform delivers high signal integrity at leading-edge data speeds, addressing performance and bandwidth bottlenecks in networks, from fiber to memory. Inphi's solutions minimize latency in computing environments and enable the rollout of next-generation communications infrastructure. Inphi's solutions provide a vital interface between analog signals and digital information in high-performance systems, such as telecommunications transport systems, enterprise networking equipment, enterprise and data center servers, and storage platforms. To learn more about Inphi, visit www.inphi.com.

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