Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation, a provider of IC solutions for carrier and enterprise networks, has expanded its SimpliPHY family of Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices, creating another method for utilizing network processor components for long-term investments in software.

The VSC8552 has many green features that can assist telcos in reducing power consumption by 75 percent or more. The VSC8552 and VSC8504 are ideal for products such as broadband access gateways, enterprise IP phones, switches, routers, and smart grid connectivity devices, company officials said.

“Network equipment vendors across all segments are looking for ways to reduce system power and increase system efficiency,” said Brian Jaroszewski, senior product marketing manager at Vitesse.

“Vitesse is committed to remaining at the forefront in green innovations, which helps our customers gain a competitive edge and bring differentiated energy-efficient network solutions to market,” Jaroszewski added.

Samples of the lead-free RoHS 6 devices, in 17-mm-square 256-pin BGA packages, will be available immediately. The company is starting production in July 2011.

The product expansion is significant as customer demand for eco-friendly network equipment has already led to the emergence of energy efficiency mandates such as Energy Star’s Small Network Equipment specification and IEEE (News - Alert) 802.3az 2010 Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE).

The SimpliPHY family of Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices has the potential to reduce ICT carbon footprint. When 802.3az-compliant products are deployed in new and existing Ethernet networks, U.S. power savings could reach 5 terawatt-hours per year, reducing ICT carbon footprint by 5 million tons per year, according to the IEEE.

The two-port VSC8552 and four-port VSC8504 devices support dual media copper and fiber ports, and leverage Vitesse’s EcoEthernet 2.0 technology. This enables power dissipation between 160mW and 400 mW per port depending upon traffic utilization levels for an active link over twisted-pair copper wiring.

Recently, Vitesse announced it combined the stringent precision packet timing protocol IEEE 1588 v2 with that of the advanced performance monitoring Y.1731 standard into physical layer devices.