Gigabit ethernet ICs

I'm looking to add a gigabit ethernet switch to a design, 4-8 ports 
would be ideal. A standalone switch (as long as it can autodetect 
100/1000) would do, but a switch with a local 100Mb MAC capable port 
would be ideal. Any ideas?

Paul Burke

The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.

You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.

Cheers

PeteS

PeteS wrote:
> The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
> stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.
> 
> You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
> NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.

Thanks Pete. Where did you get the parts from?

Paul Burke

PeteS wrote On 11/23/05 07:41,:
> The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
> stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.
> 
> You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
> NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> PeteS
> 

Broadcom were the biggest jerks I have ever encountered for documentation.
Getting a simple, one page spec out of them was like trying to get a state
secret.

In both cases I dealt with the manufacturers direct and their reps (not
distribution) for the local area.

We had to buy through distribution, but that industry has had so many
changes, you'll need to look it up at their sites.

http://www.marvell.com/sales/index.jsp

For Broadcom, you need to contact them directly. Here's their site:

http://www.broadcom.com/products/technologies/Gigabit-Ethernet

Cheers

PeteS

PeteS wrote:
> In both cases I dealt with the manufacturers direct and their reps (not
> distribution) for the local area.
> 
> We had to buy through distribution, but that industry has had so many
> changes, you'll need to look it up at their sites.
> 
> http://www.marvell.com/sales/index.jsp
> 
> For Broadcom, you need to contact them directly. Here's their site:
> 
> http://www.broadcom.com/products/technologies/Gigabit-Ethernet
> 

Thanks. I'm beginning to regret this. I'm getting the impression that 
the technology is "nascent", what hope of long term supply stability? :(

Paul Burke

For better or worse, it is Broadcoms 'business strategy' to become your 
partner from the get-go.  I was told they don't want you to 
fail....After you first contact them they will usually  contact one of 
their Mfg Rep to contact you and ask all sorts of questions about the 
design, projected quantities, etc. (It makes an interesting situation if 
you are working on a propriatary project...). If you pass the first 
screening, then they have the mfg rep go through another round of 
questions ( i.e. proposed product lifespan, tech overview, upgrades, the 
networth of your company or the amount of VC $s behind you, etc.). 
THEN, if you pass this hurdle, somebody from Broadcom or their mfg rep 
will have you sign a NDA...that can get interesting as well because it 
is sort of 'one sided'....if you try to get them to sign your NDA, you 
won't get it resolved for 6 months.....
Having successfully jumped thorough all those hoops, you may then hear 
from Broadcom directly with a promise of 'all the doc you need..'...when 
I got mine, it was a joke.  I wanted the usual 30-60 page data sheet 
with all the details, what I got was 'sales glossies' and quick select 
charts....
After this, we had enough of their hoops, they failed, we punted on 
their offerings and went with TI....
I got latest rev data sheets, samples in less than a week, spoke to an 
app engineer about parametric issues, and lots of software samples...All 
I got from Broadcom was 2 months of delay and phone tag...
John


Scott Moore wrote:
> PeteS wrote On 11/23/05 07:41,:
> 
>>The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
>>stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.
>>
>>You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
>>NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>PeteS
>>
> 
> 
> Broadcom were the biggest jerks I have ever encountered for documentation.
> Getting a simple, one page spec out of them was like trying to get a state
> secret.
> 

John Hudak wrote:
[...]
> Scott Moore wrote:
> > PeteS wrote On 11/23/05 07:41,:
> >
> >>The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
> >>stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.
> >>
> >>You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
> >>NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.
> >>
[...]
> >
> > Broadcom were the biggest jerks I have ever encountered for documentation.
> > Getting a simple, one page spec out of them was like trying to get a state
> > secret.
> Having successfully jumped thorough all those hoops, you may then hear
> from Broadcom directly with a promise of 'all the doc you need..'...when
> I got mine, it was a joke.  I wanted the usual 30-60 page data sheet
> with all the details, what I got was 'sales glossies' and quick select
> charts....
> After this, we had enough of their hoops, they failed, we punted on
> their offerings and went with TI....
> I got latest rev data sheets, samples in less than a week, spoke to an
> app engineer about parametric issues, and lots of software samples...All
> I got from Broadcom was 2 months of delay and phone tag...
> John

I agree with John and  Scott.  If you can find what you need elsewhere,
you'll be doing yourself a huge favor.  Broadcom and Marvell's only
real interest is increasing their market share at the big, BIG guys
(Dell and HP sized)...  let's face it - if you're asking on a newgroup
which IC's would be good to use, you aren't going to be on Broadcom's
radar screen.

Check out Zarlink, Intel,  Micrel, Vitesse, and others.

Good luck,

   Marc

mrand@my-deja.com wrote:
> John Hudak wrote:
>>Scott Moore wrote:
>
>>>Broadcom were the biggest jerks I have ever encountered for documentation.
>>>Getting a simple, one page spec out of them was like trying to get a state
>>>secret.
>>
>>Having successfully jumped thorough all those hoops, you may then hear
>>from Broadcom directly with a promise of 'all the doc you need..'...when
>>I got mine, it was a joke. > 
> I agree with John and  Scott.  If you can find what you need elsewhere,
> you'll be doing yourself a huge favor.  
> Check out Zarlink, Intel,  Micrel, Vitesse, and others.


OK, thanks a lot. I'll forget about them, the total build would be only 
100 a year, they aren't going to get out of bed for that. The whole 
thing is rather putting me off- difficult to get parts, long lead times, 
big BGAs.

Paul Burke

mrand@my-deja.com wrote On 11/28/05 19:38,:
> John Hudak wrote:
> [...]
> 
>>Scott Moore wrote:
>>
>>>PeteS wrote On 11/23/05 07:41,:
>>>
>>>
>>>>The two vendors I have used for both 100 and GE devices (and their
>>>>stuff always worked for me) are BroadCom and Marvell.
>>>>
>>>>You won't get any (legallly) information on Broadcom devices without an
>>>>NDA. Marvell may or may not be more forthcoming on an immediate basis.
>>>>
> 
> [...]
> 
>>>Broadcom were the biggest jerks I have ever encountered for documentation.
>>>Getting a simple, one page spec out of them was like trying to get a state
>>>secret.
>>
>>Having successfully jumped thorough all those hoops, you may then hear
>>from Broadcom directly with a promise of 'all the doc you need..'...when
>>I got mine, it was a joke.  I wanted the usual 30-60 page data sheet
>>with all the details, what I got was 'sales glossies' and quick select
>>charts....
>>After this, we had enough of their hoops, they failed, we punted on
>>their offerings and went with TI....
>>I got latest rev data sheets, samples in less than a week, spoke to an
>>app engineer about parametric issues, and lots of software samples...All
>>I got from Broadcom was 2 months of delay and phone tag...
>>John
> 
> 
> I agree with John and  Scott.  If you can find what you need elsewhere,
> you'll be doing yourself a huge favor.  Broadcom and Marvell's only
> real interest is increasing their market share at the big, BIG guys
> (Dell and HP sized)...  let's face it - if you're asking on a newgroup
> which IC's would be good to use, you aren't going to be on Broadcom's
> radar screen.
> 
> Check out Zarlink, Intel,  Micrel, Vitesse, and others.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
>    Marc
> 

I really hate people that trash vendors for no reason, so I guess I should
list my experience with Broadcom. Our company, since defunct, was a Broadcom
user, and we had a "contact" within Broadcom we were supposed to use. This
was on a fairly run of the mill ethernet interface IC.

I needed what is called a BSDL for the part, its a description of how to
test it under JTAG. Now virtually all vendors I dealt with had this information
online, for public use. Its not proprietary, tells you very little about
proprietary details of the part, etc.

Our "contact" wasn't answering the phone, and I left several messages.
I guess I got a little hot that I needed to spend this kind of effort
just to get mundane data out of them. I started to call around to several
places within Broadcom when they didn't call me back, and eventually
one of these people did call me back and sent me the file by email.

The straws back was that since Broadcom was *next door* (literally),
I went there to talk to them in the lobby, on the theory that its harder
to ignore people face to face. What ensued was like a visit to the CIA.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you who is in department X. I won't call
anyone in this building because you don't have an appointment..", etc.

Thats not how you treat customers, and this was to get trivial data
that should have been online.