June 6, 2006 -- Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. today announced the availability of the company's E-StaX-34 switch-on-a chip (SOC) product, the first low cost stackable Layer 2 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Smart Switch designed to bring affordable Gigabit Ethernet to entry level applications.

The E-StaX-34 reduces the total bill of materials for a Gigabit Ethernet stackable system eliminating the need for Fast Ethernet stackable solutions. Vitesse has achieved this by including a new patent-pending VStaX cabling technology, a scalable high-speed 24+4 port configuration, a performance driven architecture and a rich integrated feature set to deliver low cost GbE for OEM and ODM customers.

Upgrading from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet affords ten times the speed, ten times the bandwidth to enable new applications and support file sharing performance, reduced latency and granular Quality of Service (QoS) among other benefits. However, OEMs and ODMs have been unable to widely adopt the technology for entry-level solutions due to cost constraints. With a low cost GbE solution in a stackable Smart Switch to combine network intelligence with performance and scalability, these solution providers can now address a critical need for small and medium enterprise (SME) customers.

The mobile SME and SOHO markets are driving the increase in demand for wireless chipsets. With the emergence of the 802.11n standard that provides speeds much greater than Fast Ethernet can support, large-scale deployments of Gigabit Ethernet will also become more prevalent as Fast Ethernet will not be able to sustain with the increased bandwidth demands of 802.11n networks and bandwidth intensive applications such as IPTV, Large File Sharing, VoIP and Quality of Service (QoS).