Infineon Announces World’s First Gigabit PHY Compliant With New Energy Efficient Ethernet Guidelines; XWAY™ PHY11G Reduces Power Consumption by 90 Per Cent and Enables Industry’s Smallest Footprint for Gigabit Applications

Aug 3, 2009 | Market News

Neubiberg, Germany – August 3rd, 2009 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) today announced the most energy efficient Gigabit Ethernet Physical Layer (PHY) integrated circuit (IC) in the market. The new XWAY™ PHY11G is the first IC compliant with EEE guidelines for energy efficiency, and it is the industry’s smallest footprint IC for Gigabit home networking applications. The new IC targets all major broadband applications, including xDSL and PON Routers in home gateway solutions, IP phones, PC motherboards, and consumer applications like IP-TVs, IP set-top boxes, game consoles and printers.


The PHY is the foundation for enabling high-speed data transmission at throughputs of 1 Gbit/s, which is the next-generation standard for future broadband connectivity compared to today’s 100 Mbit/s networks. For example, with Gigabit Ethernet, copying the content of an 8 GByte Flash card to a Network Attached Storage drive requires less than two minutes compared to more than 20 minutes with current generation Fast Ethernet connectivity.


Infineon’s Focus: Energy Efficiency and Green IT


The XWAY PHY11G is the first IC on the market to implement the Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) guidelines, which are based on the upcoming IEEE 802.3az standard. The Infineon PHY reduces its energy use by up to 90 percent (50 mW instead of 500 mW) during periods of idle, when there is no data traffic over the Ethernet link. Typical Gigabit PHY ICs now in the market do not have this low power mode. When operating under full load, the Infineon solution consumes at least 25 percent less energy compared to existing solutions, spending less than 400mW in total.


According to market studies, typical households have their home networks turned on 24/7, whereas the actual usage is less than one percent. With EEE implemented, devices enter low power mode when no data is sent.


“Support for Energy Efficient Ethernet is the most important feature of the XWAY PHY11G, since it will help our customers deliver value in terms of actual energy savings for purchasers of home network gear. For example, if the 150 million PHYs in home networks today were replaced by our Infineon solution, it would save 500 Gigawatt-Hours a year, which is equivalent to the yearly capacity of a coal-burning power plant,” said Christian Wolff, President of the Wireline Communications Division at Infineon Technologies. “With the XWAY PHY11G family, we now provide our customers with a portfolio of solutions to address the burgeoning Gigabit home networking market.”& amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; lt; /p>


In addition to the new Gigabit PHY family, the broadband communication portfolio of the Wireline Communications Division encompasses analog, digital and mixed signal ICs along with comprehensive software suites, enabling system manufacturers to design high quality, high-speed data and telecommunication systems solutions from broadband access up to the customer premises equipment.


Further technical details on the XWAY™ PHY11G family


The Infineon XWAY PHY11G family includes Single-Port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHY ICs supporting half and full duplex modes at 10base-T, 10base-Te, 100base-TX, 1000base-T and 1000base-X exceeding the IEEE standards performance requirements. The PHY is manufactured in 65nm process technology and available in two small packages; the VQFN-48 and the LQFP-64 package setting new footprint standards with only 7mm x 7mm and 12mm x 12mm respectively. The device can be operated out of a single power-supply ranging from 2.5V to 3.3V using its integrated DC/DC switching regulator at minimal external cost.


Infineon also offers the XWAY PHY22F, a dual-port Fast Ethernet PHY with the same EEE features.


Availability


Samples of the XWAY PHY11G and XWAY PHY22F will be available in Q4 2009 with volume production expected to start in Q1 of 2010.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2008 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 4.3 billion with approximately 29,100 employees worldwide. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

Information Number

INFWLC200908.072

Press Photos

  • The XWAY™ PHY11G Reduces Power Consumption by up to 90 Per Cent
    The XWAY™ PHY11G Reduces Power Consumption by up to 90 Per Cent
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