Fast Net News, DSL Prime, DOCSIS Report

Faraj Aalaei at Centillium was King of the Asian DSL chip market, with a near-monopoly as Japan built the best network a decade ago.  They were delivering 15 and even 30 megabit speeds (very short loops) while most of the world was still topping at 6 megabits. Eventually, they weren't a survivor in the very competitive DSL chip market. 

     Faraj is back, shipping a small quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY aimed at reducing cost and especially power consumption in large data centers. LSI Logic joined a group of Tier 1 VC's in the round. The twelve 25mm x 25mm chips in the board above switch almost half a terabit. 

    They made a big bet on G.Lite 1.5 megabit chips, which provide a classic example of how a large company can crush a small one. SBC/AT&T at the time was asking "Why would anyone ever need more than 1.5 megabits?" and the market looked promising. Alcatel Micro stopped the move to G.Lite by flooding the market with full rate modem chips at about the same price. Just before Centillium big product release, Alcatel told me and Loring Wirbel of EE Times the price of full speed 6 megabit chips would be $2 higher than G.Lite. Whatever price the G.Lite people set, Alcatel would almost match it. The carriers remained with full rate 6 megabit chips. 

    Alcatel Micro paid a price for crushing G.Lite. They were sold to ST Microelectronics in 2002 amid rumors of large losses. 

Here's the quadport product and $21M financing pr:

Aquantia Announces Industry’s Highest Density Quad-Port 10GBASE-T Aquantia AQ1402 selected as finalist for 2011 Network Products best new product award

MILPITAS, CA. May 9, 2011 -- Aquantia, the leading developer of mainstream 10Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions, announced today the sampling of the AQ1402, a quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY IC, in a 25mm x 25mm package. The AQ1402 is the smallest quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY available to date in the industry. It is also the only device that allows a single-row implementation for mainstream 1RU 48-port 10Gigabit Ethernet switches.

As 10GBASE-T LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) sees widespread adoption in servers in the second half of 2011, connectivity to low-cost, high port count 10Gigabit Ethernet switches will become an essential and complementary network element in Data Centers and Cloud Computing environments.

2x4 Integrated Connector Modules (ICM), which integrate the RJ45 connectors and the magnetics into an 8- port compact module, are commonly used in the design of high-density switches such as Top-of-Rack or End-of-Row 48-port Ethernet switches. The width of these ICMs, 59 mm, determines the 25 mm maximum dimension of a quad-port device, such that two of them, including minimum spacing between each, fit side by side in a single row.

Any quad-port device designed in a 27mm x 27mm package or larger will force a 2-row staggered implementation, thus doubling the depth of the PHY section on the board. The staggered design also has the disadvantage of creating a significant variable length for the traces between the IC and the ICM, creating performance impact and uncertainties on this critical signal path.

Aquantia’s AQ1402, with its 25mm x 25mm package size, is the only 10GBASE-T quad-port PHY device to enable the single-row configuration, thus dramatically decreasing the PHY footprint on Ethernet switches, and accelerating its mainstream deployments.

Twelve 1402 ICs in a single-row implementation on a 48-port reference platform

Says Kamal Dalmia, Aquantia vice president of sales and marketing, “Aquantia is once again changing the landscape and taking the lead in the industry with low-cost connectivity solutions for 10Gigabit Ethernet. We are seeing significant traction with the customer base for the AQ1402 as a highly differentiated product, building upon the industry’s highest performance 40nm 10GBASE-T architecture, first unveiled at Interop 2010”.

“We are seeing rapid growth in high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet server access switches such as Top-of- Rack," said Seamus Crehan, president, Crehan Research. “Furthermore, with factors such as many new

Page 1 of 2product introductions in this area – from incumbents and new entrants, falling prices, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet server adoption, we expect this strong adoption to continue,” added Crehan.

Aquantia has been selected as a finalist for the Network Products Guide Best New Product Award, for its newly-released AQ1402 product. More details are available on the Network Products Guide website, at http://www.networkproductsguide.com/hotcompanies/2011/index.html.

Go to www.aquantia.com/news_videos.php for footage of recent discussions on 10GE in the Data Center as well as video footage on 10GBASE-T data center trends, and follow Aquantia on Twitter for ongoing updates on 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in the data center.

Aquantia Closes $21M Series E to Expand 10GBASE-T Deployment Company ramps 40nm-generation for Data Center Transition to 10Gigabit Ethernet

MILPITAS, CA – June 6 – Aquantia, the leading developer of 10Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions for cloud computing and large scale data center deployments, announced today that it has closed its latest round of financing. The $21 million series E funding will help the company scale its operation in response to increasing demand for its 40nm 10GBASE-T PHY solution in this fast growing market segment.

All existing investors participated in this round, including New Enterprise Associates, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Pinnacle Ventures and Venture Tech Alliance. LSI Corporation, our new strategic investor joined a distinguished group of existing strategic investors, reaffirming Aquantia’s superior technology and leadership in the market. Says NEA partner and Aquantia board member Rohini Chakravarthy, “With this strong financing, Aquantia is now well positioned to deliver to the server LAN-on- Motherboard (LOM) and Ethernet switching demand ramping in 2011.”

“Aquantia has demonstrated technology leadership with their innovative architecture and outstanding performance,” said Jeff Richardson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of LSI Corporation. “As a leading provider of silicon solutions that enable storage and networking applications, we believe that 10GBASE-T technology will play an important role in the enterprise and that Aquantia is well positioned to further the deployment of solutions in this growing market.”

Faraj Aalaei, CEO and president of Aquantia, added, “The renewed confidence from our investors, as well as the addition of new strategic partnerships as part of this round strengthen Aquantia’s position as the emerging leader in this coveted market segment. We’re delighted that demand is growing in markets such as cloud computing where the power and cost efficiencies of our solution are critical, and look forward to scale the company for volume delivery to fulfill customer orders worldwide.”

Phil Delansay, vice president of business development of Aquantia will expand on the company’s plans and market trends in the upcoming Morgan Keegan Half Moon Bay Tech Conference, June 20-22, 2011.

Go to www.aquantia.com/news_videos.php for footage of recent discussions on 10GBASE-T, and follow Aquantia on Twitter for ongoing updates on 10Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in the data center and cloud computing environments.

About Aquantia

Aquantia’s 10Gigabit Ethernet ICs are at the heart of cloud computing and large-scale data center deployments taking place today. This market segment is going through a very fast transition, with astounding growth in the total amount of compute power and the move to faster connectivity. This has in turn led to a new paradigm for 10Gigabit Ethernet all across the ecosystem. With its 10GBASE-T silicon products, Aquantia delivers to its OEM customers the most versatile and highest performance 10Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solution while providing lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).