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Atheros Delivers World's First Complete 10G EPON Solution


Published on 2011-01-31 11:05:19 - Market Wire
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SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - January 31, 2011) - Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ ATHR ]), a global leader in innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications, today announced it has delivered the world's first complete 10G Ethernet passive optical networking (EPON) system-on-chip (SoC) solution for broadband access, mobile backhaul and cable uplink applications. In addition to a 10G optical line terminal (OLT) solution that will be used in the service provider's central office, Atheros offers a 10G optical network unit (ONU) solution for customer premise equipment and cellular base stations.

Atheros is expanding its presence in the FTTx (fiber to the home, etc.) market with the industry's first end-to-end 10G EPON platform. Its new 10G solutions deliver 10 times more bandwidth and greater scalability than previous fiber technologies -- enabling service providers to better meet the increasing bandwidth demands of homes, multi-dwelling units (MDUs), businesses and cellular networks. The SoCs also comply with the new IEEE 802.3av standard, which provides the optimal combination of performance, advanced features, and compatibility with legacy 1G EPON products. Atheros is sampling to strategic customers in the US, China and Japan for their next-generation access system solutions.

Key Facts:

  • The growing demand for PON equipment is being driven by the global upgrade of broadband infrastructure to support the ever-increasing bandwidth needs for video services and content sharing -- not only in homes and businesses, but on mobile devices connected to the cellular network.

  • Delivering broadband access up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), Atheros' 10G EPON solutions enable FFTx networks to support more advanced applications and more broadband subscribers. The flexible EPON platform is also ideal for MDU traffic aggregation, mobile backhaul and cable uplink applications.

  • Atheros' 10G EPON solutions offer asymmetric mode, which provides reliable 10 Gbps downstream and 1 Gbps upstream performance. The solutions will be upgradable with symmetric mode to provide full 10 Gbps performance in all-10G networks, while maintaining compatibility with legacy 1G systems. This not only provides a cost-effective way for carriers to upgrade their networks gradually, but is an important feature of the 802.3av standard.

  • Atheros continues to expand its broadband access portfolio for its global networking customers. The new 10G EPON solutions augment the company's WAN-to-LAN platform, which not only enables carriers to deliver high-speed broadband access from the central office to the customer premise, but also leverages Atheros' industry-leading Ethernet, Wi-Fi® and powerline solutions to intelligently route traffic within the home, MDU and business.

Product Details and Availability:

  • Atheros' 10G EPON solutions integrate all of the media access, traffic management and switching components needed to build OLT and ONU equipment, including the 10G and 1G EPON media access controllers (MACs), a MIPS24KEc® processor, configurable DDR2 and DDR3 controllers, a serializer/deserializer (SerDes), and standard 10G Ethernet, SGMII and XAUI interfaces. This high level of integration reduces customers' bill-of-materials (BOM) costs to accelerate the transition to 10G EPON.

  • In addition to the components mentioned above, Atheros has incorporated a proprietary packet processing/traffic management hardware engine that supports the TR-156 standard. This engine provides superior Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) management and Quality of Service functionality for high-speed IP traffic, which is critical for the next generation of fixed and mobile broadband networks.

  • Atheros is also helping customers make networking products more energy efficient, especially for power-hungry applications like Voice over IP (VoIP). The internal processing power of its 10G EPON ONU supports multiple voice channels without an external digital signal processor, which can significantly reduce the power consumption of residential and SMBs gateways.

  • Atheros' OPL08865-AC2B OLT system-on-chip and OPL08850-AC2B ONU system-on-chip are currently sampling to customers and will soon be in volume production. A complete set of reference design is also available.

Supporting Quotes:
Zheng Liu, vice president and general manager of Atheros' Access Business
"10G EPON is one of the fastest growing broadband opportunities because it allows networking vendors and carriers to keep pace with the increasing demand for bandwidth-intensive video, voice and data services. Delivering the world's first complete 10G EPON solutions solidifies Atheros' foothold in the broadband access market, and paves the way for us to win designs with customers pursuing next-generation solutions today."

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About Atheros
Atheros Communications delivers innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications. Its mission is to invent technologies that connect and empower people in ways that are elegant and accessible to all. Building upon its broad expertise in RF and mixed signal semiconductor design, Atheros' portfolio includes a wide variety of connectivity solutions that are used by many of the world's leading networking equipment, computing and consumer device manufacturers. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Atheros has a significant and growing presence in Asia and Europe to serve its global customer base. For more information, visit [ www.atheros.com ].

Atheros and the Atheros logo are trademarks of Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.

NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including the features, benefits and performance of Atheros' 10G EPON solutions, the anticipated growth in demand for PON equipment, future design wins for next-generation solutions and timing of production shipments, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, difficulties in the development of new and enhanced products, general economic conditions, the effects of competition and technological change, and the risks detailed in Atheros' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other reports filed with the SEC by Atheros from time to time. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Atheros disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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