Gennum Offers Industry's Most Integrated CDR for 16G Fibre Channel

Gennum's New GN2017 Dual CDR Addresses Signal Integrity Requirements for Datacom and Storage Area Networks

BURLINGTON, ON, March 23 /CNW/ - Gennum Corporation (TSX:GND) today announced its second generation 16G Fibre Channel CDR (clock and data recovery), designed to address the ever increasing signal integrity requirements in data communications and storage area networks. The GN2017, a dual CDR with integrated VCSEL driver and limiting amplifier addresses signal integrity issues at 14Gb/s speeds, the data rate adopted for 16G Fibre Channel.

Gennum's first generation of 16G Fibre Channel CDRs for SFP+ optical modules, the GN2015 and GN2016, were the industry's first for this application and are now in the production stage. The GN2017 builds on the success of its predecessors by adding additional features to enhance signal integrity and to reduce overall bill of materials (BOM) cost. The GN2017 is compliant with the FC-PI-5 standard for fiber optic links and also supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet and legacy Fibre Channel rates, so that a single module can be designed to support multiple standards. It has the ability to detect between a 16G Fibre Channel input and a legacy Fibre Channel input, and can automatically configure itself accordingly. It can also detect between a 16G Fibre Channel input and Fibre Channel over Ethernet input, and can then retime the signal to ensure a high quality output.

"By bringing the GN2017 to market Gennum again demonstrates its innovative approach to technology integration. As bandwidth requirements increase, so does the need for increased control over signal integrity. The FC-PI-5 committee recognized this, and defined the 16G Fibre Channel standard such that CDRs are needed inside the optical module. Our new dual CDR chip with integrated functionality offers our customers the best solution available today for their SFP+ optical modules," said Dr. Franz Fink, President and Chief Executive Officer, Gennum Corporation.

GN2017 is the first 14Gb/s device in the industry that lowers the total BOM cost by integrating the limiting amplifier, VCSEL driver and dual CDRs into a single chip. The chip addresses the strict SFP+ module space and power requirements with a small 5mm x 5mm 32-pin QFN package, and enables modules with less than 1W power consumption.

The GN2017 will be available for sampling in Q2, 2010 and will be demonstrated live in the Gennum booth (No.203) at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC), being held at the San Diego Convention Center from March 23 - 25, 2010.

About Gennum Corporation

Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) designs innovative semiconductor solutions and intellectual property (IP) cores for the world's most advanced consumer connectivity, enterprise, video broadcast and data communications products. Leveraging the company's proven optical, analog and mixed-signal products and IP, Gennum enables multimedia and data communications products to send and receive information without compromising the signal integrity. Recognized as an award winner for advances in high definition (HD) broadcasting, Gennum is headquartered in Burlington, Canada, and has global design, research and development and sales offices in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, United States, Taiwan, India and the United Kingdom. www.gennum.com.

For further information: Keri Fraser, Director of Corporate Communications, Gennum Corporation, Tel: [phone], Email: [email protected]