AdvancedTCA provides the framework for high-performance, standard modular building blocks such as the ZX5000 switch, and is ideal for next generation networks. To meet the stringent continuous availability requirements of the telecommunications industry, the ZX5000 is configured with ZNYX Networks' OpenArchitect® for managed switches, a control plane software environment. The features of the ZX5000 make it a natural choice for the base fabric switch of the new ATCA platforms.

"The ZNYX Networks ZX5000 AdvancedTCA switch complements our next-generation platform products for telecommunication equipment manufacturers," said Ton Steenman, general manager, Embedded Intel Architecture Division. "The new Intel ATCA chassis, single board computers (SBCs) and management modules combined with ZNYX Networks switches deliver on the vision of ATCA -- a powerful, standards-based component architecture designed for carrier-grade telecommunication applications."

"The benefits of equipment manufacturers' investing in standards development are seen here with compatibility of both the switch fabric -- the Intel® Media Switch IXE5416 controller -- and management software -- OpenArchitect for managed switches -- in both the Intel® ZT 8102 CompactPCI PICMG 2.16 switch and the ZNYX Networks ZX5000 AdvancedTCA switch," said Alan Deikman, Chief Technical Officer for ZNYX Networks. "With OpenArchitect, we can take full advantage of the IXE5416's flexible internal routing table architecture, delivering non-blocking L2-L7 switching, VLAN control, class of service and filtering."

"The ZX5000 AdvancedTCA switch with OpenArchitect complements the CompactPCI technologies developed by Intel and ZNYX Networks and provides telecommunication equipment manufacturers with a single software interface across both architectures and form factors" said Connie Austin, President and CEO of ZNYX Networks. "The OpenArchitect software platform enables equipment manufacturers and systems integrators to easily migrate the same revenue generating Ethernet routing capabilities and OEM applications from CompactPCI to ATCA. This ability to quickly move sophisticated routing software to ATCA systems is contributing to the strong adoption momentum of the new standard."

ZNYX Networks also announced the completion of initial integration testing for the ZX5000 switch with the Intel® NetStructure™ MPCH0001 14U Shelf, the Intel® NetStructure™ MPCBL0001 High Performance Single Board Computer, and the Intel® NetStructure™ MPCMM001 Chassis Management Module, a suite of AdvancedTCA telecom boards announced by Intel at Telecom World. This combination of dual ZX5000 fabric switches and multiple Intel SBCs, working together in the new Intel chassis has already been tested and certified as the foundation of a new 3rd generation (3G) mobile communications platform for a major telecommunications equipment provider. By combining the leaders in switching, computing, and chassis engineering, this next-generation ATCA platform was successfully brought to market in 1/3 the typical development time to meet aggressive deployment schedules of the carrier.

The ZX5000 delivers 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the ATCA 8U form factor. An ATCA base fabric Gigabit Ethernet connection is provided for each of the 12 ATCA payload slots. The ZX5000 provides three more 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet copper egress ports on the front panel. The OpenArchitect management software enables the "trunking" of these ports into a 3- Gigabit egress pipe. The 14th Gigabit port is used to provide switch-to-switch communication to enable extremely rapid failover between switches using OpenArchitect/HA. Robust IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 1.5 protocol support integrates temperature and voltage sensors to insure reliability. In addition, the single chip, 32-Gbps switching fabric enables high-capacity applications, lower power and a non-blocking architecture.

OpenArchitect, the control plane management software for multiple silicon switch fabrics, provides a scalable management and Ethernet routing software platform and delivers comprehensive L3 routing capabilities, L4-7 filtering, plus Class-of-Service features. In addition, OpenArchitect offers an extensible Linux API environment capable of supporting open-source, 3rd party or proprietary protocol stacks and routing applications. OpenArchitect/HA, a layered application for dual switch chassis, provides a high-speed, fault-tolerant, end-to-end "IP transparent" failover solution for "hot-swappable" Ethernet-based payload blades on a switch-to-switch, VLAN-to-VLAN, or port-to-port basis. The ZX5000 Gigabit Ethernet base interface enables significant capacity for control plane throughput, and when configured for full redundancy, traffic can switch to a backup blade, enabling high availability of platform service.

The ZX5000 is immediately available through ZNYX Networks Early Access (EA) program. Volume shipments are scheduled for 1st quarter 2004. ZX5000 manufacturing licenses and OpenArchitect source licenses are also available.

Several partners will be demonstrating the ZX5000 switch in their new high performance Intel processor-based platforms at the ITU Telecom World 2003.

ZNYX Networks is the leading global provider of high availability embedded Ethernet solutions for CarrierClass™ systems. Equipment manufacturers and systems integrators use ZNYX Networks technologies to create solutions with continuous service, high-performance and strict compliance to telecommunications standards. The ZNYX Networks family of hardware, software and professional services products provide design engineers with pre-built and pre-tested embedded network and switch solutions that offer significant "time-to-market" advantages.

Privately held, ZNYX Networks is headquartered in Fremont, California, with advanced research centers in Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Ottawa, Canada. Sales and professional service offices are in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, see www.ZNYX.com, e-mail sales@ZNYX.com or phone (510) 249-0800.