LSI, Zarlink to deliver scalable synchronization solutions for next-gen mobile networks

BARCELONA, SPAIN: LSI Corp. and Zarlink Semiconductor have announced a collaborative solution that pre-integrates Zarlink's Timing over Packet expertise with the LSI Axxia Communication Processor family, speeding time to market and simplifying integration for networking OEMs.

The combined offering brings together innovative networking silicon products that feature award-winning traffic management capabilities and industry-leading Timing over Packet products to provide a complete and scalable synchronization solution for next-generation mobile networks. These offerings provide timing synchronization information for 3G and LTE base stations and other mobile network infrastructure, enabling TDM infrastructure to be replaced with low-cost Ethernet-based backhaul.

"Wireless networks are increasingly pushing the bandwidth envelope as consumers continue to use their smartphones and connected devices to watch videos, browse the Internet and interact with social media applications," said Tareq Bustami, multicore communication processor product line director, LSI. "By integrating the Axxia Communication Processor family and Zarlink timing synchronization, we are enabling service providers to deploy Ethernet backhaul to efficiently deliver data-intensive applications while reducing operating costs."

The LSI and Zarlink silicon are a complete timing solution that is compliant with the IEEE 1588-2008 standard and has been pre-tested for interoperability. When used with the newly announced Axxia ACP3423 communication processor, the solutions also support Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE).

"Zarlink's ZL3034x family of Timing over Packet devices work seamlessly with the LSI Axxia Communication Processor family to offer a scalable solution for wireless networks," said Jeremy Lewis, timing product line manager, Zarlink. "Our Timing over Packet solutions are key technologies that enable service providers to integrate packet-based networks into their existing infrastructure."

The Axxia Communication Processor family combines PowerPC 476FP general-purpose processor cores with a wide array of intelligent offload engines to provide scalable, deterministic performance with low latency and no load on the CPU complex. Zarlink's ZL3034x Timing over Platform products are the only commercially available single-chip devices to offer both packet timing using IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and SyncE for physical layer timing.

The solutions are now available in sample quantities to networking OEMs.