News and New Products

Move away from fixed hardware to SPI-4.2

By Nicholas Cravotta -- EDN, 7/8/2004

Fulcrum Microsystems’ new PivotPoint SPI-4.2 switch chip targets high-performance networking and storage applications. The six-port FM1010 PivotPoint SPI-4.2 seamlessly interconnects devices such as transceivers, network processors, traffic managers, coprocessors, and custom ASICs and FPGAs. By employing a SPI-4.2 switch, developers can eliminate the use of discrete daisy-chain designs and system buses, moving from a fixed hardware configuration to a dynamic fabric of computing and packet-processing resources.

Based on Fulcrum's Nexus technology, a nonblocking terabit crossbar circuit, the FM1010 offers data rates as high as 14.4Gbps per SPI-4.2 interface with a ball-to-ball latency of less than 250 nsec. Available now, the FM1010 comes in a 1036-ball BGA package and sells for $225 (1000). A hardware-development kit, including a modular board, reference software, and a design guide simplifies evaluation of the chip with other SPI-4.2 devices.

Fulcrum Microsystems Inc, 1-818-871-8100, www.fulcrummicro.com.