Inphi Unveils Second Generation 50/100/400 Gigabit Ethernet PAM4 IC For Cloud Interconnects At OFC 2016

Industry Leading PAM4 IC Achieves 25% Reduction in Power From First Generation

Santa Clara, CA (Marketwired) - Inphi Corporation (NYSE: IPHI), a leading provider of high-speed connectivity solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its second generation, highly integrated, lowest power 4-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) chipset solutions for intra-data center and inter-data center cloud interconnects. Reducing power by more than 25%, Inphi's PAM4 IC will enable platform solutions for multi-rate PAM4 interconnects. The foundation of the PAM4 PHY IC solutions are a highly configurable digital signal processing (DSP) engine and a media agnostic dual mode transmitter architecture that can be targeted to multiple different performance oriented applications for optical based interconnects, while keeping an extremely low power profile.

As the massive megatrends of cloud computing, Big Data, IoT, Social and Web2.0 continue to accelerate and drive the insatiable need for unlimited bandwidth, there is clear need to increase the speed of interconnect pipes while maintaining cloud economics and lowering carbon footprints. PAM4 modulation has now been recognized as the modulation scheme that will take the industry over the next wave of Ethernet deployments for optical interconnects by doubling the bits per symbol at the same baud rate. By integrating multiple channels along with transmit and receive PAM4 and FEC functions on a single IC, Inphi is able to double the levels of integration available from existing PAM4 IC offerings and scale the solution across multiple rates.

"With PAM4 modulation transforming Ethernet deployments, Inphi is at the forefront with the only chipset portfolio that can deliver a custom built, highly integrated, low power solution that delivers 50G/100G/400G within and between data centers. We introduced our first generation PAM4 chipsets in 2015 and today announcing the production availability of world's second generation PAM4 chipsets that deliver the lowest power in the industry," said Siddharth Sheth, vice president, Networking Interconnect at Inphi. "Inphi pioneered PAM based electronics for 40/50/100/400G and continues to execute on production, leading the industry to the new world of terabit cloud optical interconnects."

According to Loring Wirbel, Senior Analyst at The Linley Group, "The recent IEEE standards activity clearly points to PAM4 28Gbaud being the future of optical signaling for 50G to 400G. With the production availability of Inphi's new PAM4 chipsets, optical module solutions based on 28GBaud PAM4 can now become a reality with real deployment expected in the next few quarters."

PAM4 PHY Products are Production Ready (including IN015050-SF for 50G, IN015025-CA for 100G and IN015025-CD for 400G)
Inphi's low-power PAM4 PHY ICs interface with host ASICs that have 10/20/25G NRZ and 56G PAM4 electrical interfaces while bridging to 20-28GBaud PAM4 optics. Other technical features include:

• DSP Engine with a unique mixed-mode DSP architecture for high performance, low power applications needing adaptability and configurability
• Media agnostic dual mode transmitter architecture that supports a variety of media types including, silicon photonics, single-mode and multi-mode optics
• Multiple programmable FEC options with varying levels of pre-FEC BER performance for distances in excess of 10km for DCI inter-data center applications
• Numerous self-test and loopback modes that allow diagnostic monitoring of channel and system parameters
• Eye-scan, samplers and monitors on all receiver interfaces for link margin and stress testing along with GUI and API routines for data and error analytics
• Innovative package design that allows denser line cards
• Optimizations for next-generation QSFP28-based modules and line card designs
• Single-chip low power solution that allows high scalability across Ethernet data rates

Come See Us at the OFC 2016
Inphi is showcasing its latest next-generation products in its booth #3611 at OFC 2016 in Anaheim, CA on March 22-24, 2016.

About Inphi
Inphi Corporation is a leading provider of high-speed connectivity solutions. Inphi's end-to-end data transport platform delivers high signal integrity at leading-edge data speeds, addressing performance and bandwidth bottlenecks in networks, from fiber to memory. Inphi's solutions minimize latency in computing environments and enable the rollout of next-generation communications infrastructure. Inphi's solutions provide a vital interface between analog signals and digital information in high-performance systems, such as telecommunications transport systems, enterprise networking equipment, enterprise and data center servers, and storage platforms. To learn more about Inphi, visit www.inphi.com.

Inphi, the Inphi logo and Think fast are registered trademarks of Inphi Corporation. InphiNity, iPHY and OmniConnect are trademarks of Inphi Corporation. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.