Conexant Systems, Inc. introduced a family of integrated VDSL2 customer premises equipment (CPE) system-on-chip (SoC) solutions. The new SoC family has been optimized to address a variety of triple-play voice, video, and data products ranging from VDSL2 voice-enabled CPE gateways to basic bridges. The SoCs feature a flexible architecture that supports all VDSL2 profiles up to "30a" for applications requiring 100/100 megabits-per-second (Mbps) operation, an integrated VoIP engine, and a powerful network processor. The chipsets also include advanced CPE technology that significantly improves VDSL performance by reducing interference on the copper lines, enabling operators to increase their subscriber coverage area.

The new CPE devices can also be used with Conexant's Accelity-2 central office (CO) solution, forming an end-to-end solution for high-speed VDSL applications. (See Conexant Unveils Next-Generation "Accelity-2" VDSL2 Central Office Solution for Triple-Play Broadband Applications.)

"Service providers are moving quickly to deploy VDSL2 in order to offer real-time voice and video content. This is driving the demand for powerful and cost-effective CPE gateways that support triple-play services," said Akram Atallah, senior vice president and general manager of Conexant's Broadband Access business. "Our highly integrated, end-to-end VDSL2 chipset solutions provide manufacturers with a competitive solution for this growing market segment, while significantly raising the bar in both value and performance. In addition, the unprecedented hardware and software flexibility of our feature-rich solution enables our customers to develop cost-effective and specialized products for multiple market segments."

The new VDSL2 SoCs have several features that improve performance including:

• An integrated hardware accelerator engine that enables up to one gigabit-per-second data throughput.
• A dedicated voice digital signal processor (DSP) to support two simultaneous VoIP channels.
• A flexible DSP architecture available in 30MHz or 17MHz bandwidth and two-pair bonded configurations enabling cost-optimized products for fiber-to-the-building (FTTB), fiber-to-the-node (FTTN), and CO deployments.
• Full backward-compatibility with ADSL/2/2plus applications to enable highly interoperable ADSL/2/2plus fallback capabilities.

"Highly integrated, cost-effective and standards-compliant SoCs are needed to drive key mass IPTV rollouts," said Shane Rau, program manager with industry analyst firm IDC. "These devices also need to include performance-improving features such as non-blocking throughput and QoS in order to support concurrent voice and video streams that will enable service providers to capitalize on the growing market for advanced triple-play services."

Conexant's new product family features a wide variety of interfaces that support complementary home networking technologies for a complete DSL gateway system solution. These include 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), HomePNA specification 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and HomePlug A/V, providing manufacturers a single-source solution for cost-effective VDSL CPE gateways and bridges. The SoCs also seamlessly integrate with Conexant's SmartDAA and industry-standard voice codec chipsets.

The new VDSL2 CPE chipset family includes solutions specifically designed for a wide range of CPE bridge, router, voice gateway, and two-pair bonding applications. The product family includes the following chipsets and corresponding target applications:

Part Number Application
CX96629 Two-Pair Bonded Gateway
CX96429 FTTB VDSL2 (up to Profile 30a) Gateway/Voice Gateway
CX96329 FTTN VDSL2 (up to Profile 17a) Gateway/Voice Gateway
CX96220 VDSL2 Bridge

Conexant's new VDLS2 CPE solutions are delivered with Linux Board Support Package and Conexant's widely deployed Integrated Software on Silicon (ISOS) software. ISOS features a complete software stack and footprint-efficient kernel that allows manufacturers to quickly and easily productize complex gateway products, and is compatible with Conexant's complete line of xDSL CPE products. ISOS also supports DSLHome, the DSL Forum's initiative to standardize and simplify the provisioning and configuration of DSL gateways.

Conexant is the market leader in DSL semiconductor solutions worldwide, and has shipped more than 200 million DSL ports to date. The company's DSL solutions have been deployed worldwide by over 50 major service providers. CO and CPE solutions include a full range of standards-based integrated circuits, software and reference designs for asymmetric and symmetric DSL applications including ADSL2plus, SHDSL and VDSL2. Fiber access solutions include the Xenon family of products for passive optical network applications (PON).

Availability and Pricing

The new chipsets are available in sample quantities now, with production scheduled for March 2007. Chipset prices range from $24 to $30 each in volume quantity, depending on the configuration and application. Complete reference designs, and a modular evaluation and development platform are also available.