Paul Nahi, Jim Tavacoli, Jim Gorecki founded Accelerant Networks in October 1999 "to develop CMOS-based transceivers for serial backplane communication and future broadband infrastructure semiconductor solutions." The company received $8M in first round funding from Mohr Davidow Ventures in Sept. '99 and $7M in second round funding led by Goldman Sachs in July 2000. Additional capital will be sought later this year. The company has 41 employees.

According to Accelerant, the backplane transceiver is becoming a bottleneck in many communication equipment designs. Accelerant believes there are no true backplane transceivers on the market today, with existing solutions having been designed for other markets such as fiber channel or Ethernet, and re-purposed for use on the backplane. According to Accelerant, today's solutions are basically generic high-speed SerDes ICs, which create numerous signal integrity problems on the backplane. To address this problem, Accelerant has created a "Backplane Communication System," a semiconductor solution targeted specifically at increasing speed, distance and reliability of intra-system communication of networking systems. Accelerant estimates that the total cumulative backplane transceiver market will approach $4B in 2004, with 2.5Gbps and higher requirements estimated at roughly $1.25B.

Accelerant's Backplane Communication Transceivers (BCT) are designed specifically for high performance backplane communications. Using Accelerant's patented WildPHYR technology, the transceivers alleviates reflections and cross talk without any user adjustments by using adaptive signal processing to deliver virtually error-free backplane communication across any existing or new backplane.

Integrated dynamic channel matching characterizes each channel and then coupled with an embedded auto-negotiate block ensures optimal link performance by setting the appropriate transmission and reception parameters. Unique coding algorithms provide for a designer friendly system implementation. Backplane targeted scrambling techniques are used to alleviate electromagnetic radiation.

Dynamic Equalization ensures signal integrity and maintains system reliability, even under varying operating conditions, by automatically and continuously optimizing data communication for any given backplane channel. Widely varying interconnect characteristics are automatically identified and an optimal equalization coefficient is selected from amongst millions to enable the transceiver to work in any system, at any length, at any time, with no user intervention.

Multi-level analog signaling technology enables system developers to design for a 2.5 GHz transmission rate, while delivering 5 Gbps of data, thereby reducing high frequency signal integrity problems. A crosstalk manager reduces the level of crosstalk from traces, connectors, vias or other sources. Adaptive transmitter levels set the optimal signal to enable high-density system design without compromising signal integrity. An embedded communication mechanism modulated with user data enables remote monitoring and troubleshooting without interrupting the transmission of user data or reducing the data transmission bandwidth. Any changes in system temperature, PCB capacitance or aging can be compensated via this embedded communication mechanism.

The AN5000 BCT, Accelerant's first product, delivers 5 Gbps on a differential pair (10 Gbps full duplex) while dynamically eliminating signal integrity problems on transmission lines from one to 48 inches. The AN5000 integrates digital signal processing, adaptive transmit equalization, multi-level analog signaling, proprietary encoding/decoding and a synchronized scrambler to alleviate high-speed backplane design impediments such as reflection, noise and EMI. The all-CMOS AN5000 has low power consumption and assures future integration.

Accelerant's product is backwards compatible with existing solutions that were designed to run at lower speeds. Accelerant claims that existing systems can be upgraded to the AN5000, increasing overall backplane bandwidth up to 4x without changing the existing installed backplanes. The AN5000 is expected to be available in sample quantities in Q2 2001 with volume production expected to begin in Q4.

Future products will support higher bandwidths like 20 Gbps and will include single chip solutions that will deliver the entire bandwidth of linecards across backplanes. Competitors include Velio, AANetcom/PMC-Sierra, Agilent, Vitesse, Rambus, TI, Marvell, and AMCC among others. Accelerant claims to be the only vendor to develop transceivers specifically for the backplane market. Its devices offer twice the speed of any potential competitor, and uniquely incorporate dynamic equalization and multi-level analog signaling.

Paul Nahi, President and CEO (previously GM of the communications division at NEC Electronics)

Jim Gorecki, CTO (Previously director and architect of the Cadence analog mixed signal design center. He was the co-founder and CTO of Level One and has 50 patents granted or pending in the areas of digital baseband communications and mixed signal CMOS design.)

Jim Tavacoli, VP of Sales and Marketing (previously senior manager of the Network Systems Applications Group at NEC)