SCIENCE

Broadcom unveiled its latest system-on-a-chip (SoC) series designed to address the accelerating Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) market – China's fastest growing broadband technology. The single-chip solution enables faster time to revenue and more average revenue per unit (ARPU) while delivering the increased bandwidth needed to address the high-speed connectivity requirements of converging triple-play services (voice/video/data) in MDU applications.

Built on field-proven technology and demonstrated interoperability, the BCM53600 series is the first in a family of highly optimized, 1G to 10G scalable, and fully integrated single chip PON MDU SoCs. The BCM53600 series, the world's most highly integrated 1G-EPON SoC, delivers unparalleled system integration, allowing carriers to quickly deploy pizza-box applications with the fewest possible components, dramatically reducing system cost and power consumption. The complete SoC includes an integrated switch, PHY, CPU, EPON MAC, voice DSP, and software development kit (SDK).

The rich feature set including TR-101, TR-156, and CTC2.1 specification compliance delivers end-to-end quality of service (QoS), classification, filtering, and security. IPv6 support provides a future-proof solution for next generation deployments and service upgrades. Multiple interfaces provide flexibility for a smooth transition to evolving technology and multiple deployment scenarios including VDSL, VoIP, 10G-EPON and GPON.

Broadcom will demonstrate the new series at the 2011 Computex conference and exposition in Taipei May 31 – June 4.

Quotes:

Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst, Broadband and Video at Infonetics

"EPON revenue in China continues to increase, with fiber deployments continuing at a rapid pace. There appears to be no sign of a slowdown in the already overheated EPON market, especially with the Chinese government planning to spend another $42 billion to expand and improve China's broadband infrastructure."

Greg Caltabiano, Senior Director & General Manager, Ethernet Access, Broadcom Corporation

"Carriers are under increasing pressure to increase revenue while reducing costs. Our proven high-performance, fully integrated SoC enables carriers to deliver value-added services to subscribers while  dramatically reducing costs and maintaining compatibility across our entire family of EPON and Ethernet products."

Key Facts:

• China is aggressively rolling out EPON in an effort to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to high-density housing(1).
• Additional features include:
• Proven interoperability for EPON deployment with leading carriers.
• Integrated SDK compatible with entire Broadcom switch family for shorter product development cycle and faster time-to-market.
• Feature-rich VoIP DSP for easy deployment of high-density voice applications.
• End-to-end QoS and security for SLA guarantees and prevention of denial of service (DoS) attacks.
• Supports IEEE 802.3ah 1G EPON standard.
• New 1G EPON MDU series includes four devices: BCM53602: 8-port FE SoC, BCM53603: 16-port FE SoC, BCM53604: 24-port FE SoC and the BCM53606: 24-port S3MII SoC.
• Devices are sampling now with volume production slated for the fourth quarter of 2011.

1 – Infonetics, Q1 2011 Broadband CPE Subscribers, Quarterly Worldwide and Regional Market Share, Size, and Forecast