Semiconductor company Broadcom has released a DOCSIS-compatible 10G Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) residential gateway reference design.
Broadcom's new design allows cable multiple system operators (MSOs) to provide multi-gigabit speeds for home subscribers' high-speed video and Internet services via a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. The new integrated platform enables MSOs to quickly provide multi-gigabit speeds to their subscribers without expensive upgrades.
The platform combines Broadcom's BCM55030, a 10G/10G EPON optical network unit (ONU) system-on-a-chip (SoC), with the widely deployed BCM33843 DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway device.
Broadcom's 10G EPON gateway adheres to the preliminary CableLabs DPoE 2.0 specification, which allows the PON gateway to look and function like a traditional DOCSIS gateway, allowing cable MSOs to merge new technologies with their existing systems.
Built-in 10G symmetric EPON WAN technology supports multi-gigabit speeds, allowing multiple FTTH subscribers to achieve 1G symmetric performance simultaneously.
"Operators are looking for the fastest and most efficient means to provide subscribers with true gigabit internet speeds," said Jim McKeon, senior director of product marketing, Broadcom. "Our new residential gateway design enables cable MSOs to bridge a fibre network into their existing DOCSIS infrastructure without costly network re-design."
Key features of the BCM55030 include integration of a 10Gb/s media access controller (MAC), 10Gb/s EPON serialisers/deserialisers and forward error correction (FEC), a four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, traffic management, and on-chip memory for both CPU and packet buffers resulting in no external memory components
The device complies with the IEEE 802.3av 10G EPON standard including support for 10G/10G, 10G/1G and legacy 1G/1G EPON. The chip supports Broadcom's 2.5G TURBO-EPON in addition to both standard 1G and 10G modes.
Key features of the BCM33843 DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway device include the capability to deliver 16 downstream channels supporting DOCSIS and/or digital video and four upstream channels. The device supports DOCSIS and digital video on any frequency, eliminating limitations of block tuners.
The dedicated DOCSIS CPU supports double the memory of previous generations, the dedicated multi-threaded applications processor with an over 400 per cent increase in CPU power, and multiple hardware offload engines.
Broadcom's new 10G EPON residential gateway reference design is will be demonstrated at the CableLabs Summer Conference 2015 in Keystone, Colorado. It is available now.