Data Sheet

Ethernet Controller I210 —Introduction

Note: When operated in Flash-less mode with an external PHY (such as the I210 SGMII SKU), no

link up is made possible after power up before the driver configures the external PHY. It

means that in such case, WoL is not supported when the system passes through the following

states: G3 --> S5 --> WoL.

1.4.4 Serial Flash Interface

The I210 provides an external SPI serial interface to a Flash for storing product configuration

information and a boot ROM device such as the Winbond W25X80-BVSNIG or compatible Flash device.

Refer to Section 11.8.1 for a list of validated or compatible Flash devices. The I210 supports serial

Flash devices with up to 64 Mb (8 MB) of memory. The size of the Flash used by the I210 can be

configured by the Flash itself. Refer to Section 2.3.2 for full pin description and Section 11.6.2.4 for

timing characteristics of this interface.

Note: Though the I210 supports devices with up to 8 MB of memory, bigger devices can also be

used. Accesses to memory beyond the Flash device size results in access wrapping as only

the lower address bits are used by the Flash device.

1.4.5 SMBus Interface

SMBus is an optional interface for pass-through and/or configuration traffic between a Manageability

Controller (MC) and the I210.

The I210's SMBus interface can be configured to support both slow and fast timing modes (up to

1Mb/s). Refer to Section 2.3.3 for full pin description and Section 11.6.2.2 for timing characteristics of

this interface.

1.4.6 NC-SI Interface

NC-SI and SMBus interfaces are optional for pass-through and/or configuration traffic between a MC

and the I210. The NC-SI interface meets the DMTF NC-SI Specification, Rev. 1.0.0 as an integrated

Network Controller (NC) device.

See Section 2.3.4 for full pin description and Section 11.6.2.5 for timing characteristics of this

interface.

1.4.7 MDIO/I

C 2-Wire Interfaces

The I210 implements a management Interface to control an optional external PHY. The interface can be

either a 2-wire Standard-mode I

C interface used to control an SFP module or an MII Management

Interface (also known as the Management Data Input/Output or MDIO Interface) for control plane

connection between the MAC and PHY devices (master side). This interface provides the MAC and

software with the ability to monitor and control the state of the external PHY. The I210 supports the

data formats defined in IEEE 802.3 clause 22.

Refer to Section 2.3.6 for a full pin description, Section 11.6.2.7 for MDIO timing characteristics, and

Section 11.6.2.3 for I

C timing characteristics of this interface.

The I

C interface can alternatively be run over the SDP 0 and SDP2 pins. This can be useful when the

I210 operates with a copper PHY since the dedicated SFPx_I2C pins are not available in this mode for

the control of other external devices.