Freescale - First to demonstrate 2.5G and 5G performance interoperability between SoCs for embedded networking applications and Aquantia AQrate™ copper PHY technology

October 30, 2014, Seoul, Korea – Freescale Korea (www.freescale.co.kr, CEO Hwang Yeon-ho) announced that its 28nm QorIQ T1 product family multicore communications processor has become the first embedded SoC (System-on-Chip) to demonstrate interoperability with the newly unveiled Aquantia AQrate 2.5 and 5Gbps Ethernet PHY products.

As Ethernet performance improves compared to conventional Category 5e twisted-pair copper cables, next-generation Ethernet switch and appliance customers, WLAN access points, wireless LAN controllers, small cell base stations and other application customers can address increased network traffic demands exceeding 1Gbps network uplinks without bearing additional costs of installing updated cables or using multiple twisted-pair links.

Matthias Machowinski, enterprise network analyst at market research firm Infonetics Research, said "It is clear that demand for faster Ethernet will surge over the coming years. For example, with the start of new 802.11ac-enabled access in 2015, wireless access point backhaul bandwidth will reach 1Gbps and beyond. It is projected that more than 20 million 802.11ac access points will ship annually by 2018." He added, "Through new technologies such as the 2.5 and 5Gbps Ethernet demonstrated by Freescale and Aquantia, network administrators will be able to bridge the gap in performance between wired and wireless access networks."

Freescale's QorIQ T1 product family processors integrate 1 to 4 cores and are designed to deliver 2 to 4 times higher performance than comparable conventional devices in the same class, with low power consumption in 5 to 8Gbps IP forwarding and cost-effective packaging. These QorIQ T1 series multicore processors offer support options for 1G, 2.5G, 5G, and 10G interfaces, and also provide proven protocol offload engines that implement higher bandwidth encrypted tunnels as required by enterprise and wireless customers.

Kamal Dalmia, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Aquantia, said "We are pleased to demonstrate this new level of AQrate PHY performance over common CAT5e using the popular Freescale QorIQ T1 processor. This interoperability validation through embedded market leaders like Freescale gives OEM equipment designers confidence in establishing plans to support systems with 2.5 and 5Gbps Ethernet capability."

Aquantia's AQrate PHY combines 2.5GbE and 5GbE, as well as IEEE-compliant 10GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T (1GbE), and 100BASE-TX (100MbE) for transmission over twisted-pair cables up to 100m. The AQrate PHY product family integrates features such as EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet), 1588v2, and MACsec, and supports all PoE standards up to 60W.