Microchip Technology announced its next-generation of LAN969x Ethernet switches with Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), scalable bandwidths from 46 Gbps to 102 Gbps and a powerful 1 GHz single-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU. For applications that require greater redundancy, the LAN969x Ethernet switches can be configured with High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) and Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP). HSR and PRP are hardware protocols that provide zero-loss redundancy in Ethernet networks.

The LAN969x Ethernet switches support multiple HSR and PRP Redundancy Box (RedBox) instances that can operate in parallel and in series, as well as at Ethernet port speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. The LAN969x can implement a QuadBox, which is a function that connects two HSR networks to each other. This feature is particularly useful in applications where high reliability and zero downtime are critical.

Alternative solutions that implement a QuadBox typically require multiple different components that can drive up design complexity and system costs. The LAN969x Ethernet switches are highly configurable with options of up to 30 ports. The Ethernet ports support multiple interfaces including RGMII, SGMII, QSGMII, USGMII, and USXGMII.

The LAN969x family targets secure and safety-critical applications where high-port-count 10M/100M/1G/2.5G/10G switching links are required. The LAN969x family is available with security add-ons such as secure boot and secure firmware execution based on the customer?s root-of-trust manufacturing process. Security is provided through Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM)-based frame processing using a Versatile Content Aware Processor (VCAP), Arm Trusted Firmware methodology for fast secure boot, crypto libraries and hardware security accelerators for boot and code encryption, and one-time programmable immutable key storage.

The new family of LAN969x mid-range Ethernet switches rounds out Microchip?s portfolio of TSN switches. The SparX-5i family supports up to 64 ports and 200 Gbps of switching bandwidth, while the LAN9662 and LAN9668 support from 4 to 8 ports and 4 to 11 Gbps of switch bandwidth.