Controllers offer two-port Ethernet connectivity

ASIX Electronics Corp. has rolled out two Ethernet ICs—the AX88742 and AX88783—that are 2-port devices that can be configured as a fully managed, Layer-2 switch with the third port being connected to any host processor.

Using AX88742 with 32bit PCI MCU or AX88783 with generic 8/16/32-bit MCU, designers can provide 2-port Ethernet connectivity to embedded systems to distribute voice, video and data remotely over the network.

The AX88783 is a 2-port Ethernet switch featuring a third port, 32bit Non-PCI/SRAM-like host interface. The AX88742 is a 2-port Ethernet switch with the third port being connected to a 32bit/33MHz PCI host interface. The built-in switching fabric supports non-blocking wire-speed forwarding and offers an advanced switch feature set that includes tag/port-based VLAN, spanning tree, QoS priority management, rate control, port security, port mirroring, IGMP snooping and MIB counters.

ASIX's ICs are targeted at performance-sensitive embedded applications that need to support two Ethernet ports, typically one for a LAN port and one for a WAN port. Also, the AX88742 and AX88783 support HP Auto-MDIX, which allows both the straight-through and crossover cables to be directly connected to the device without end user's guesswork.

Limited samples are available now, and volume production is scheduled in Q2 08.

- Ismini Scouras
eeProductCenter