Microchip Ocelot, Felix, and Seville Ethernet switches
A family of managed Ethernet switch chips originally from Vitesse and now sold by Microchip (the standalone VSC7511/12/13/14 Ocelot parts), along with the embedded switch blocks NXP integrates into SoCs like the LS1028A (Felix VSC9959) and the Seville VSC9953. They are widely used in industrial networking and time-sensitive networking (TSN) gear, and remain current products in 2025.
recommendation
It should stay because the hardware is actively sold and deployed: Microchip still lists the VSC7514 Ocelot switch as in production, NXP's LS1028A industrial SoC ships with the Felix VSC9959 switch block built in, and the code is receiving fresh netdev patches and stable backports as recently as 2025. No alternative driver covers this silicon.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Kernel Kconfig ties this directory to Microchip/Microsemi Ocelot external switches plus Felix VSC9959 and Seville VSC9953 embedded switch blocks.
- lore.kernel.org
As of 2026-02-25 the driver was still receiving netdev patches, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than deprecation.
- lore.kernel.org
Felix support was still being backported to stable in 2025, which is strong evidence of active deployed users.
- microchip.com
Microchip listed VSC7514 as 'In Production', showing at least part of the Ocelot switch family was still sold new in/after 2025.
- nxp.com
NXP listed LS1028A as 'Active' and described its integrated TSN-capable Ethernet switch, matching the Felix VSC9959 use case and indicating ongoing new-system availability.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local `rg`/`sed` inspection of the directory showed real platform drivers and Kconfig coverage for VSC751x, VSC9953, and VSC9959. lore_file_timeline on `drivers/net/dsa/ocelot/felix_vsc9959.c` produced the cited 2026 netdev patch and 2025 stable backports; two narrower lore_regex removal/deprecation searches timed out, and the timeline sample showed maintenance rather than removal traffic. Microchip and NXP product pages were obtained via web search. Kernel Kconfig URL is canonical recall to anchor the supported silicon list. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same hardware; this is the hardware-specific DSA front-end, and the lore history is too active for deprecation.