Lantiq announces family of Gigabit speed gateway processors

MUNICH & NEUBIBERG, GERMANY: Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies, has announced the addition of three single-chip Gigabit Ethernet gateway solutions to its XWAY xRX family.

The new GRX series meets the Gigabit processing requirements of DOCSIS3.0, VDSL2 and xPON access technologies and provides best-in-class performance for wireless connectivity, such as concurrent operation of 802.11n WLAN at 2.4 and 5 GHz with aggregate throughput up to 270 Mbps (Megabits per second). The highest performance device in the family, XWAY GRX288, achieves routing throughput up to 2 Gbps to meet the requirements of xPON connectivity.

The new XWAY GRX168, GRX188 and GRX288 ICs are based on the same architecture as Lantiq's successful XWAY ARX100 and VRX200 ADSL2+ / VDSL2 solutions, with a 32-bit MIPS CPU core and separate 32-bit Protocol Processor Engine (PPE).

The IPv6-ready PPE offloads all data routing from the CPU for optimal throughput at much lower system clock speeds than alternative chips and supports Quality of Service (QoS) features that enable smooth handling for concurrent serving of IPTV, voice lines, and data on wired or WLANs.

The common architecture of the xRX family allows system builders to produce a complete portfolio of home gateway solutions using Lantiq's Universal Gateway (UGW) software platform, which minimizes development time and cost.

With the GRX series, system developers can quickly produce platforms that support innovative new home network services deployed on an independent gateway device or delivered independently from typical broadband services. This emerging category of "Over-The-Top" services may be linked to a residence's broadband gateway via Ethernet/Gbit Ethernet, WLAN, or the emerging G.hn standard.

"As the range of applications running on or beside residential gateways broadens, system developers face challenges to meet operator requirements and match device functionality to suit specific customer needs within tight time and budget constraints," said Ulrich Huewels, senior VP and Head of the Customer Premises Equipment Business Unit at Lantiq.

"The GRX family provides full flexibility for our customers to design a range of solutions while controlling R&D spending. Lantiq continues to deliver on its promise: one investment, many applications."

Lantiq's UGW software, the primary development platform for customers, is a production-ready Linux-based software package that complies with all carrier requirements for service deployment. Features include full support of IPv6 addressing and TR-069 with its widely adopted broadband service management functions.

This reduces development time and cost for standard features and allows the system provider to concentrate resources on differentiation of the gateway feature set and value-added applications. Lantiq's TR-069 implementation is certified by Motive to be interoperable with the industry leading ACS vendor's implementation, further helping system integrators achieve timely market introduction for new products.

The UGW package also includes pre-integrated drivers for Lantiq's extensive offering of companion chips for use with xRX ICs. Lantiq is uniquely able to provide practically all of the system level silicon required in a complete solution design, including 802.11n WLAN supporting carrier-grade video, Fast and Gigabit Ethernet Switch and PHY (Physical Layer), DECT/CAT-iq, VoIP and analog voice.

Additional common features across the GRX family include integrated data encryption for IPsec and energy savings features that enable designs to meet the recently defined 2011/2012 requirements of the European Union Code of Conduct (CoC) on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment.

Lantiq's continuous effort to increase energy efficiency will put customers in ideal position to also meet 2013/2014 CoC requirements that are currently under definition. Each IC also features a full suite of device interfaces for memory (DRAM and FLASH), PCI, SDIO and UARTs in support of differentiated applications and end products.