Akros Releases World۪s Smallest Footprint Power over Ethernet Powered Device Family

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Folsom, Calif. May 22, 2007 – Akros Silicon, Inc. today announced the availability of its AS1100 family of devices offering the smallest footprint and highest integration for Power over Ethernet (PoE) Powered Device (PD) applications. The AS1100 family enables customers to bring to market higher performance products including VoIP phones, IP security cameras and wireless LAN access points.

With video surveillance rapidly migrating to IP networks, Mark Kirstein, vice president of multimedia content at iSuppli, commented, “Semiconductors enabling video surveillance equipment such as, cameras, DVRs and IP video servers, will grow to an estimated $2 billion in revenue by 2011. Companies that are able to innovate and capitalize on this next-generation of semiconductor solutions – by networking the equipment – will capture a strong portion of the market in this rapidly growing industry.”

The AS1100 family includes the AS1113 device for IEEE® 802.3af-2003 specification power levels and the AS1124 device for either 802.3af or 802.3at pre-standard power levels. The innovative silicon solutions, built on standard HV CMOS technology, include system-level circuitry for lower EMI emissions and robust surge protection in addition to the PD controller functionality.

The AS1113 and AS1124 devices include a series of platform tested circuit capabilities to assist system designers in providing solutions that meet or exceed the current regulatory and extreme environmental usages. The AS1113 for 13W applications includes the current 802.3af PD standard. The AS1124 for 24W applications encompasses the pre-802.3at standard with two finger classification and is backward compatible to current 802.3af customer needs.

The AS1100 family combines rectification and protection circuitry with a PD controller and a DC-DC controller. This high level of integration provides significant reliability and protection advantages, as well as simplifies the PoE PD design. The devices provide seamless support for local power and over temperature protection. Additionally, the pin compatibility between the AS1113 and AS1124 allows the designer to use the same PCB for higher power applications, often without the need for a complete redesign.

The AS1100 family also provides advanced power management through integration of a hot-swap switch and a DC-DC controller that operates from a switched input voltage and includes soft-start and current limiting functions. The DC-DC architecture is a current mode converter, which can be configured with external component changes for either fly-back, forward, or buck topologies to support non-isolated or isolated switching topologies. The dual switch architecture minimizes noise, maximizes efficiency and reduces the switch breakdown requirements for a lower cost solution. Akros offers optimized yet flexible silicon solutions, enabling its customers to bring to market higher performance PoE PD products with low cost and small footprint.

The AS1100 is fully integrated and architected at a system level to provide the following features:

  • Fully supports IEEE  Std. 802.3af-2003 and supports pre-standard IEEE  Std. 802.3at-2006 power needs
  • Meets IEC 61000-4-2/3/4/5/6 and IEC 60950 requirements for Surge, EMI and Isolation
  • Integrated rectification and protection for board level surge meets > 16.5kV air discharge (IEC61000-4-2), > 8kV contact discharge (IEC61000-4-2) and > 6kV Surge (IEC61000-4-5)
  • Integrated DC-DC converter with reduced EM emission for CISPR22/FCC part 15 Class B applications
  • Programmable DC current limit up to 800mA
  • Provides extended classification levels for higher power PD applications (pre 802.3at compliant)
  • Provides seamless support for local power
  • Over temperature protection

In its most recent 5-year forecast, Dell’Oro Group predicts that PoE shipments will grow from 32M ports in 2006 to 145M ports in 2011.

“The AS1100 family of devices is the industry۪s first highly integrated PD family that addresses the needs of the high growth PoE market,” said Ven Shan, vice president of marketing, Akros Silicon. The customer response we have seen indicates that Akros engineers have set a new bar in PD solution excellence that will be well received by the entire PoE eco-system. The AS1100 family is unique in addressing EMI and surge resilience,  offering a superior level of integration that allows PoE PD manufacturers to take advantage of the industry۪s smallest footprint while saving overall system cost and maximizing system efficiency.

A key requirement of POE systems is immunity to overvoltage and surge events. Integrating the diode bridge and protection circuitry significantly increases the reaction time of protection devices and PHY immunity to over-voltage stress events. Integrating these components also substantially reduces board-to-board variation and increases overall manufacturability providing the customer with time to market advantage.

AS1113 and AS1124 devices are available in a 20-pin QFN Reduction of Hazardous Substance (RoHS) compliant packages. The AS1113 and AS1124 are priced at $1.33 and $1.46 for 1kU quantity respectively.

About Akros Silicon

Headquartered in Folsom, California, Akros Silicon (Akros is a Greek word for edge) is a leading provider of highly differentiated system-level integrated circuits that provide advanced power management to the edge of the network. Akros Silicon۪s disruptive silicon technology enables large scale deployment of network-attached appliances, such as VoIP phones, wireless LAN access points, RFID tag readers, point-of-sale terminals, networked cameras, remote access and home-networked systems accelerating the convergence of data, audio, and video applications.