Agilent rolls out mapper chip for high-speed communications gear

The new product, called the HDMP-3001, is being billed as an Ethernet-over-SONET (EoS) mapper chip. The application specific standard product (ASSP) is said to reduce the cost of maintaining corporate networks that span over several geographic sites.

The HDMP-3001 is part of a joint development project with the Wuhan Post and Telecommunications Institute in Wuhan, China. It is also the first in a family of new SONET-compliant, multi-protocol ICs (MPICs) from Agilent of Palo Alto.

MPICs take protocol independent traffic and map it into SONET, providing a simple solution for loading data traffic on a network. The new chip is the first solution to provide full-duplex mapping of Ethernet frames encapsulated into SONET/SDH payload using the generic framing procedures (GFP) or the link access procedure-SDH (LAPS) protocol.

The HDMP-3001 EoS mapper is for use with Ethernet WAN switch ports, standalone data service unit/channel service unit (DSU/CSU) systems and line cards for SONET add drop multiplexers (ADM) within the LAN and metropolitan access (edge) network.

The device is available for under $50 in 50,000 unit quantities. It comes in a 160-pin PQFP package and supports the OC-3/STM-1 (155 Mb/s) standard.