RE: XGMII or SPI-4 ?

[Andy Annadurai <andy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Wang,

 

I feel both XGMII and SPI-4 will co-exist. XGMII is meant for only ethernet frames. SPI-4 is designed for a mix of Ethernet frames, IP packets and ATM cells. One of the functions of the MAC is assembling ethernet frames. So, there has to be a MAC in the Link device to send assembled ethernet frames to the PHY device through SPI-4 interface. It is redundant to have a MAC again in the PHY device. So, whether one uses XGMII or SPI-4 as the interface, it makes sense to have the MAC on the link layer side of the interfaces.

 

Regards,

Andy Annadurai

SynTera Corporation

Fremont, CA

(510) 360-0700

-----Original Message-----
From: Wang Wendeh [mailto:wendeh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 1:55 PM
To: stds-802-3-hssg@xxxxxxxx
Subject: XGMII or SPI-4 ?

Hi all,

 

Maybe this thread has been discussed before, but I just added in this mailing list for a few days.

Can anyone tell me which one ( XGMII or SPI-4) will be adopted for implementation between

link-layer and physical-layer device? The 10G standard proposes XGMII, while it seems to be that

vendors favor SPI-4, right? Or maybe this two interfaces can co-exist ??

 

Thanks a lot!

 

WenDeh