Lantiq Announces World's First GPON SoC Family with Integrated Optical Control Circuitry featuring breakthrough level of Integration for Next Generation Networks

The Lantiq FALC ON FTTx solution enables reduced power consumption, improved network robustness and significant cost savings 

Munich/Neubiberg, Germany – October 18, 2010 – Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies, today introduced the world`s first GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) System-on-Chip (SoC) with integrated optical control circuitry for Optical Network Termination (ONT) applications. Feature integration on the new FALC™ ON devices allows GPON ONT manufacturers to reduce Bill of Material (BOM) cost for optical components by up to 40 percent while reducing system power consumption, improving overall robustness of the optical network and reducing the footprint of ONT network equipment.

The power consumption of Lantiq GPON SoC based ONT equipment is 65% below the European Code of Conduct (CoC) requirements for 2011 and is lower than the currently proposed efficiency requirements for 2013. With a chip package-size of just 17 x 17 mm, the devices also enable very small footprint solutions. For example, a FALC ON reference design for a complete SFU (Single Family Unit) with a 1000 Base-T LAN port is smaller than a business card (50 x 80 mm).

“The first ever integration of optical control functions on a GPON system chip is a breakthrough that will enable system vendors to offer the most compact and low-power ONT designs”, said Hubert Christl, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lantiq’s Access Networks Business Unit. “Expanding our broadband access portfolio with our first GPON single chip SoC solution strengthens Lantiq’s position as a strategic supplier for next generation networks. Combining Lantiq’s R&D expertise in fiber-optics, high-speed networking and network-processing, the FALC ON solution offers competitive and cost saving advantages for ONT equipment vendors and network operators.” 

Market researchers at Infonetics (Q2 2010) expect more than 46 million GPON FTTH subscribers by 2014 compared to 2.9 million in 2009 and the GPON ONT equipment market is expected to be US $2.5 billion in 2014.

About Lantiq’s FALC™ ON FTTx Family

The FALC ON family includes SoC devices for multiple FTTH/FTTB applications. The FALC ON-D (PEF98010) focuses on data-only GPON SFU devices; the FALC ON-V (PEF98020) focuses on GPON voice and data SFUs, and the FALC ON-M (PEF98030) is well suited for MDU (Multi Dwelling Unit) and CBU (Cellular Backhaul Unit) applications.

All three members of Lantiq’s new GPON chipset family feature integrated burst mode Laser Driver and APD/PIN-receiver-control circuitry which allows direct interfacing to a low-cost BiDi Optical Sub Assembly (BOSA).This industry-wide unique approach allows system integrators to offer GPON ONT solutions without the need for costly and area-consuming optical transceiver modules.

The combination of the optical control circuitry with its ITU-T G.984 compliant GPON MAC and its on-chip CPU enables automatic calibration and compensation of optical component variations. This leads to an efficient manufacturing process, long term stability, improved optical network robustness and overall optical system performance, as defined in the ITU-T G.984.2 standard.  

The FALC ON family provides up to four GE (Gigabit Ethernet) interfaces for data traffic. The integrated 10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet PHYs enable direct interfacing to standard magnetics for up to two 1000 BASE-T or four 10/100 BASE-T links. On-chip voice processing along with external SLIC devices enable up to four FXS ports. A powerful embedded wire-speed network processor and hardware based traffic management flexibly support all Broadband Forum TR-156 and ITU-T OMCI G.984.4/G.988 requirements independent of CPU application processing.

FALC ON ships with a flexible software architecture which allows smooth integration into any customer environment. All three family members are supplied in 304-Pin PG-LFBGA packages.

Availability

The FALC ON family will begin sampling during November 2010. For more information please visit: http://www.lantiq.com/Falcon

About LANTIQ

Lantiq offers a broad and innovative product portfolio for next-generation networks and the digital home. The company has a global team of about 1,000 experts in Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions. The company specializes in broadband communications encompassing analog, digital and mixed-signal ICs along with comprehensive software suites. Lantiq is a fabless company and its semiconductor solutions are deployed by major carriers and in home networks in every region of the world. Further information is available at: www.lantiq.com.