Xilinx OTN solutions bridge gap between ASSP, ASIC

Xilinx has unveiled a new OTN SmartCORE IP for high capacity combined Ethernet and 100G OTN switching platforms and packet-optical transport systems (P-OTS). The SmartCORE IP portfolio is a strategic deliverable in the company's road map to deliver all programmable solutions needed to create intelligent 400G and Nx100G OTN solutions and OTN switching platforms with high availability, low latency, low jitter and high quality of service (QoS) requirements.

Gilles Garcia, director of wired communications at Xilinx, stated that demand for higher and more efficient bandwidth utilisation is driving the development of smarter networks based on OTN switching. However, shortfalls in traditional ASIC and ASSP solutions threaten to stifle innovation. He added that with the company's expanded range of OTN switching-optimised SmartCORE IP, Xilinx is making the investment needed to enable smarter P-OTS based networks, and thereby enabling customers to develop highly differentiated, compact, low power and all programmable-based solutions, without compromising on performance or features.

The new OTN SmartCORE IP blocks are optimised for 7 series devices and include a group of comprehensive and environmentally agnostic APIs, available to abstract all common and complex functions to aid seamless integration into customer software. The new IP blocks include:

The 100G 1 Stage multiplexer/demultiplexer SmartCORE IP - an ultra-compact traffic aggregator, supporting any combination of up to 80 channels of ODUj traffic muxed into or demuxed from a high order ODU4.

OIF compliant 100G SAR SmartCORE IP - an 80 channel segmentation and reassembly core which packetises ODUjs into packet flows. This enables ODU traffic to be switched through a packet switch fabric, facilitating packet optical transport systems.

100G ODUMon SmartCORE IP - a bi-directional IP block used to perform overhead insertion and extraction on up to 80 ODUj channels. Used in conjunction with the Xilinx 128ch OTN overhead processor, it enables PM Monitoring, TCM Monitoring and/or TCM termination and generation with consequent action insertion for up to 6 levels of TCM on each of the ODUj channels.

Xilinx SmartCORE OTN IP cores for OTN switching will be available starting September 30. Further information regarding the company's OTN SmartCORE IP can be found here.